


Out of the Darkness

by Beserk



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU-Star Trek, F/M, Gellert Grindelwald Being Creepy, M/M, Possessive Behavior
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-22
Updated: 2018-11-27
Packaged: 2019-08-27 13:04:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 9
Words: 30,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16703167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beserk/pseuds/Beserk
Summary: "Have- have you left yet?""No," He whispers against Albus's ear. "I'm never going to leave."Albus shivers, "You always leave."He laughs softly and snuggles closer to Albus, bare chest against bare chest."But I always come back, don’t I?"





	1. I Saw You In My Mind When I Was Younger

_"Have- have you left yet?"_

_"No," He whispers against Albus's ear._ _"I'm never going to leave."_

_Albus shivers, "You always leave."_

_He laughs softly and snuggles closer to Albus, bare chest against bare chest._

_"But I always come back, don’t I?"_

~

Albus woke up suddenly, and shivered. He had a strange sense that he had been dreaming, but couldn’t quite recall what he was dreaming of. The state of his sheets, however, was a good indication of what his dreams might have hosted. With a sign, Albus shoved the blankets off and stood up, checking the clock.

It was only three in the morning (according to the spaceship's time, at least), and Albus had four hours before he had to go to the bridge- assuming there was no emergency. And there seemed to be one every few days. He would have used the sleep, but knowing himself, Albus was sure he would not be able to fall back asleep. So instead, he took a quick shower, scrubbing himself clean and washing his auburn hair, and went to one of the rec rooms, hoping to find something to read.

Instead, he found his Helmswoman. Ensign Granger was seated on one of the many tables, playing 3-D chess against herself. Albus smiled to himself. Granger was one of those child-prodigies that were fought over by all the captains and Starfleet divisions upon graduation. He had won her by literally winning her- in a game of poker against some Starfleet personal in charge of transfers. It had not even provided a challenge.

"Are you winning?" The captain asked softly, but it still caused the girl to jump up. Well, maybe girl wasn't really fair. She was twenty-two. But at Albus's ripe old age of thirty-four, everyone under twenty-five was considered a child.

"Captain!" Granger shot up, moving to stand in attendance. Albus smiled gently at her.

"At ease, Ensign," He waved his hand and sat down at the table. "Mind if we play a game?"

The ensign blinked at him with confusion for a moment before her mouth turned up in a smile and she nodded, "I'd be honoured."

She returned to her place and they re-sat the chess board, beginning to play in quiet. After a few moments of compatible silence, Albus decided to take the opportunity to get to know the newest member of his bridge crew better.

"So, what are you doing up, so late?" He asked as he observed the board. Granger was playing a good game.

"I'm waiting for a call from my parents on Tarsus IV."

Albus hesitated, hand stopping on the way to the piece, and looked up at the girl. She was staring down at table, fingers fiddling together. From the frown on her face, he could tell her family were one of the original settlers. There were a few who had stayed, after the massacre.

"I see," Albus said softly. He leaned backwards on his chair and studied the girl. She looked up at him, a strength in her gaze that impressed Albus. "I'm sorry."

Granger shrugged, "It was…A very long time ago. But, thank you, Captain."

"Do you remember it?" Albus asked.

Granger nodded, "Somewhat. I was only five at the time. I…Well, Captain, I was glad when I was posted with you. You were there, won’t you?"

Yes, he had been there. Eighteen years earlier, a sixteen-year-old child.

"I was," Albus cleared his throat. "I was an Ensign on the USS Godric's Hollow."

_The strong live, and the weak are put down, he says, eyes gleaming. He turns to Albus and says, don't you agree, Al?_

Albus shivered at the memory, shaking his head to cast it aside as the girl said, "You…Wouldn't remember, but you were one of the officers assigned to watch over the group of children I was in."

Albus _did_ remember that, though with the amount of children he had to watch, he could not remember any one of them. Well, expect for Jim, but that was because Jim Kirk had been the only child not to cry. In fact, _he_ had comforted his older brother and some of the other kids.

But he smiled and Granger and said, "I'm glad you're on my crew, then, Ensign."

Granger gave him a warm smile, then looked down at the chess board and her smile faltered.

"Oh," She said.

"Do you realize where you went wrong?" Albus asked, his natural inclination to always teach taking over.

The girl frowned at the board and then nodded, "Yes."

She looked up and spoke with awe, "I haven't been beaten in years."

 _I haven't been beaten in seventeen years_ , Albus thought bitterly, but didn't let anything show on his face. Instead he gave Granger a comforting look and said, "You did very well. Much better than most."

"It was nice," Granger said. "Not _losing_ , but- having a challenge."

"There's nothing wrong with losing once in a while. It teaches you character."

~

 _His long fingers trace the king, his eyes trained on Albus. He smiles thinly as he moves the piece, and Albus sighs. He's lost again. He's never lost, not once, in the sixteen years of his life, ever since he learned to play as a toddler. Not until he met him.  Albus doesn’t like losing, but it makes_ him _smile. And Albus likes to see him smile._

_He's smiling now, as he looks at Albus. Albus feels his body heat up, and he clears his throat, starting to get up, wants to leave the shared sleeping quarters where it's only the two of them and the soft sounds of sleeping bodies around them. He wants to go where he can be safe to calm himself._

_But he stands up as well, and frowns at him, "Where are you going?"_

_"I'm-I'm-" Albus's one of the smartest men alive, he started speaking at eight months, he speaks nine languages. He can't seem to speak now._

_"Oh," He smiles softly, and suddenly he's jumping over the table, grabbing his arms, and the heat burns through Albus, makes him shiver with anticipation. "I see."_

_He yanks his arms, bringing them closer, so close Albus can feel his breath on face, and then he grins, a large, satisfied grin, and says, "Finally."_

~

"Captain," Minerva McGonagall, the Fist Mate and Science Officer, nodded as she rose from the captain's chair, which she had been occupying in leu of the captain.

"Morning, Number One," Albus seated himself and looked around. Ensign Granger is in her position, next to Harry Potter, the Second Navigator. Albus noticed that Ensign Potter gave the helmswoman a glance before retuning to his duties. He smiled to himself. "Anything of interest happen-"

Just then the Communications Officer said, "Captain, we're receiving a message from Starfleet Command."

Albus frowned. That was rarely a good sign. "Put it through."

The face of Admiral Armando Dippet came up on screen. Albus can see he's sitting in his office in San Francisco and feels a pang of homesickness for Earth.

"Admiral," Albus greeted his superior gravely.

"Captain Dumbledore," Dippet said quickly. He had always been a quick man. A quick, worried man. "I have a job for the Hogwarts. Hediun V has sent a distress signal. A pirate ship has kidnapped a group of their children."

Albus nodded slowly, "We'll go there immediately."

"Due. And be careful. Any pirate ship that's blazon enough to kidnap a group of children right from a colony will be dangerous. Good luck, Captain."

"Thank you, Admiral," Albus said as the Admiral disappeared and the screen returned to showing the stars they were passing through. He turned to Potter and Granger and said, "Set a course to Hediun V, then. Warp speed 4."

"Aye, Captain," They said together.

And they were off.

~

Hediun V was a small planet with no native inhabitants. There were seven colonies on it, one of which was a human colony. The human colony was made up mostly of colonists from Italy, and was where the children had been taken from.

Hermione beamed down to the surface of the colony with the captain and Potter. She had found herself having to supress a smile when the captain had told the two of them to accompany him to the transporter room. Hermione loved the USS Hogwarts, but she loved visiting new planets just as much. And, if she were being perfectly honest with herself, she liked being around Ensign Potter as well.

So, she was feeling quite pleased with herself as they materialized in front of the colony governor's mansion. The governor was waiting for them outside, along with his assistant, and walked up to them as soon as they appeared.

"Governor Black," The captain said calmly. He was always very calm. Hermione had noticed this in the three weeks she had been on the Hogwarts' crew. He never raised his voice or grew angry. Even when someone made a severe mistake, he always appeared most disappointed then angry, like a teacher who had expected more from a promising student. And he always gave second chances.

But just second.

"Captain, thank you for coming so quickly," Governor Black was a black haired relatively young man, who spoke Standard with a British accent, and to Hermione's surprise he turned to Potter and winked.

Captain Dumbledore and Hermione turned to Potter, but he kept his face passive and professional. The captain raised an eyebrow to Black, who immediately said, hands raised, "He's my godson. I wasn't-"

 _Trying to hit on one of your crewmembers._ Hermione was forced to supress a smile.

"Governor, tell me about the missing children," The Captain said, clearly uninterested in stalling the investigation.

Governor Black nodded, immediately growing serious again, "Fourteen children, all disappeared from a school trip. The teachers were found, dead. They had been hit by phaser beams. The children were gone by the time the bodies were found."

The captain frowned, "I see. And how do you know it was the work of pirates?"

"They were kind enough to leave their calling card on one of the bodies," The governor said bitterly, eyes suddenly gleaming with anger. It was unsettling, after his pleasant demeanour moments earlier. "A sigil burned into the chest of a teacher."

"Show it to me," There was a harshness in the captain's voice that Hermione did not think she had ever heard before. But the way Ensign Potter looked at the captain, she can guess he had heard it, and was not fond it.

The Governor nodded and motioned them to follow him into the mansion. They went to the medical centre, where four bodies are laying one next to the other on metal tables. Hermione shivered, the sight bringing back memories of long hallways covered in bodies, Starfleet officers walking back and forth, trying to identify the dead.

Hermione took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She had more self-control then this, surely. She jumped slightly when a soft hand came on her shoulder, and she looked up to see Ensign Potter smiling gently down at her. there was no pity in his gaze, or surprise, or even sympathy. Just a deep empathy that made Hermione immediately return the smile.

Governor Black went over to one of the bodies, which like all the rest was covered from the neck down by white sheets. The captain walked over and nodded at the Governor, who took a deep breath and slipped the sheet off, resting it on the dead man's waist. Hermione heard a small gasp behind her, but by the time she turned, Ensign Potter had composed himself. She returned her gaze to the body.

It didn’t seem to be very damaged, at first glance. The body was that of a middle-aged man, with dark auburn hair and stubble. He was fit, clearly a man who cared for his health. The cause of death was clear: a phaser hit right in between the eyes. But all that Hermione noted in a fleeting manner, before her eyes were drawn to the man's chest.

Where the brand was.

It had clearly been burned there, and was still red and swollen. Done right before death, or right after, Hermione guessed. It was quite large, covering the man's entire chest. It was a shape Hermione could not remember ever seeing before. a triangle, and trapped inside it, a circle. A line ran the length of the circle, from the tip of the tringle to it's base. The shape was simple, but held a short of elegance.

Captain Dumbledore stared at the shape for a few moments, face completely blank. Then he cleared his throat and said, "Just a moment, if you will."

Hermione frowned and moved forward as the captain reached out for the body and opened one of its eyes. Blue eyes, glazed blue eyes.  there was something unnatural about the eye, even considering that it belonged to a dead man.

"Ensign Potter, would you come assist me, please?" The Captain said calmly. Potter nodded and moved to stand beside the captain. "Hold the eye open for me."

Hermione grimaced and came over to watch. She and the Governor kept silent as Potter held the eye open and the captain reached out and touched the eye. He sighed to himself and dig into the eye, which would have caused Hermione to grimace again is she had not realized by then that something was wrong.

When the Captain touched the eye, it didn’t sink into his touch, and when he took his finger away, there was nothing on it. So it didn’t surprise Hermione when the Captain took the eye out in one swift motion, leaving an empty socket behind, and held it up for everyone to see. It was, of course-

"A glass eye?" Governor Black frowned.

"Yes," Captain Dumbledore said gravely. Most of what he said was said gravely. "Let's see the other one, shall we?"

The other one proved to be made of the same material as the first. The Captain held both eyes in his left hand, rubbing them thoughtfully with his fingers. Everyone held their breath for a moment before the Captain said, "Take us to the abduction sight."

~

Harry watched his Captain as they beamed to the sight where the teachers were found. He had a sinking feeling his stomach that something was very, very, wrong. Well, something _was_ clearly wrong- a group of innocent children were missing. But there was something else, something brewing in the Captain's mind that Harry did not like.

It had not escaped Harry's notice that the burned teacher's hair was the same colour as his Captain's, nor that his glass eyes had been given the same colour as the Captain's eyes. A quick check in the man's medical history had revealed that his original eye colour- before his eyes had been removed, that is- had been dark brown.

Why would anyone change a dead man's eyes? For what purpose?

Whatever it was, Harry did not have much time to think it over. As soon as they materialized in the open grassland where the children had gone for a picnic, the Captain began his dissection of the site and requested Harry to preform tests. For a few minutes Harry's mind was occupied by that, and he did not even have the time to notice that Ensign Granger was standing rather close to him, looking down at her machines with a frown, one large curl having escaped it's bounds and lay on her beautiful coffee coloured cheek.

When he did notice it, however, he was immediately possessed by a need to swipe it out of her face.

Harry quickly looked away, and chided himself for the thought, but it was to late, and he noticed Sirius giving him a grin. Harry rolled his eyes and looked back down at his readings, feeling his cheeks growing red.

"She's very pretty," Sirius whispered in his ear in English, and Harry nearly jumped. "And smart, too. Starfleet's newest wonder kid, isn’t she?"

"Shut up," Harry replied. Sirius just laughed, or rather barked, and strolled away. He seemed at ease, and only Harry, who knew him so well, could tell his relaxed exterior was hiding his scared interior. Harry wondered suddenly if Teddy was one of the missing children. The thought sickened him, but no, surely Sirius would have told him if Teddy was missing. Surely.

Right?

"Ensigns," The Captain called out, and Harry was never so pleased to respond to his Captain's summons. "Do you have anything?"

Neither appeared to have much. Readings showed that the grasslands had been occupied by a large group of humanoid creatures recently, and that someone had beamed up from this area. The Captain looked down at the grass and then said, "Beamed up, but not down."

"Yes, Captain," Granger said with conviction.

Captain Dumbledore nodded, "So, they beamed to the planet surface from a different location. The school, in all probability. Governor, could you contact the school? Ask them if the outing was planned or a spontaneous occurrence."

"Just a moment," Sirius said immediately, and stepped away. Ensign Granger exchanged a worried look with Harry and cleared her throat.

"Excuse me, Captain?"

Captain Dumbledore looked up and said gently, "What is it, Ensign?"

"Are- do you believe that this abduction was planned?"

"Oh, I believe it was planned quite some time ago," The Captain said calmly. But Harry could see the silent anger in his eyes. He had served with Captain Dumbledore for nearly three years and could read the very little signs the Captain sent out as to the state of his mind. Right then, he was furious.

Sirius returned to them, looking more nervous then had all morning, and said, clearing his throat, "The principal just informed me that the teachers had decided on the picnic this morning."

Captain Dumbledore rubbed his face with his palm, "Good, that's good. We must go to the school, Governor."

~

Teddy Lupin-Black sat on one of the boxes provided by their abductors. His hair was currently a subdued brown, his eyes the same colour. It was best not to draw attention to himself with his strange ability. His father Remus had told him often to be careful what he showed to other people. Some humans feared those born from the mating of humans and other species. Some humans hated them.

_So, stay hidden, stay silent. But keep your eyes and ears open, be ready to attack when the option presents itself. And it will always present itself. Always._

"Teddy," Victoire placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at her and forced a smile onto his face. Victoire was ten, only a year young then himself, but she was small in frame and looked so scared, that he immediately felt the need to protect her.

"It's all right, Vic," Teddy said, trying to sound reassuring. He squeezed her hand. Like him, Victoire was not fully human. They were the only two in their class. It has always made for a special bond between them. It helped that their parents were friendly, but really to Teddy it felt like he would have become close to Victoire no matter what. They were meant to be friends. "We'll be all right. Starfleet will save us."

"You really think so?"

"Of course," Teddy jumped up from his seat and began circling the cell. The children were being kept in a large room, with black walls and one large metal door. Other than the boxes, which were all empty, and light fixture on the ceiling, which did not do much to illuminate the rom, there was nothing in the cell. And it was getting cold. Teddy noticed some of the other children were beginning to shiver. Teddy added a layer of hair under his clothes, to warm himself. He returned to Victoire and put his arms around her, trying to keep her warm.

Victoire sighed into Teddy's shoulder, "They'll come to save us."

"Yes," Teddy tightened his hold on his friend. "Don’t be scared."

Now if he could only convince himself to do the same.

~

Albus found it hard to think, hard to concentrate. He had asked Governor Black to get all the teachers into a room together so he could question them while his two ensigns conducted their own investigation, an investigation of science and evidence. But Albus had learned a long time ago that much can be learned by speaking to people. Sometimes much more then what can be gleamed from standard Starfleet tests.

Despite the fact that he had been the one to call the teachers in, Albus sat with his head in his hands, unable to speak. The body kept flashing through his eyes, taunting him with his own weakness. The mark, the hair, the blue eyes-

 _I love your eyes, he whispers, cradling Albus's smaller body in his arms. They're so blue_.

Albus shook his head, forcing himself out of his memories. He looked up and found the teachers staring at him, confused. He cleared his throat and said, "I have a few questions for all of you."

He marveled at how calm and in control he sounded. He wondered if it should worry him, how easily he could pull on a mask, hiding himself behind it.

The teachers immediately murmured their agreement. He could tell they were tense, scared even. They thought they were about to be blamed for the kidnapping. Albus decided to immediately dispel those worries. People tended to be more cooperative when they trusted you, when they were relaxed.

"First, I believe that the children were taken by pirates, who were working alone without inside help. Second, I believe that their plan was to kidnap the children from the school, that is to say, from here. Their plans were disrupted, and that is good indeed for us. That might mean they made a mistake. So I would like to know if any of you saw anything out of the ordinary today. Anything at all."

The teachers looked at one another, and then one of them, a young-looking woman, cleared her throat and said, "I am not sure this will be helpful, but this morning I witnessed a woman I did not recognize enter the school. I asked her for her business, and she told me she was a mother of one of the second graders, and she had come to take him. It is very possible that she was telling the truth-"

"And yet you remembered the encounter," Albus leaned over, clasping his hands together. "Why?"

The woman sighed, "I am not quite sure. There was something…. Well, unfamiliar about the woman. Like she did not quite belong here. It sounds foolish."

"No," Albus shook his head. "It sounds like intuition. And that should never be ignored. Tell me about the woman."

"Well, let's see…" The teacher pursed her lips together, thinking. "She had blond hair, cut quite short. Her eyes were green. She was a pretty woman, I suppose. She spoke in Standard."

"Did she have an accent?"

"Oh," The teacher's eyes became wide. "Yes! That was it, why she seemed not to belong. She spoke like an American."

Albus nodded, understanding now. Everyone on the colony spoke with a soft Italian accent, a keepsake from their homeland. Calmly, he announced, "She was one of the pirates."

The room grew quiet, a stunned silence and the young woman gasped, hand raising to her mouth.

"Oh, no," She moaned. "I could have stopped her, I could have-"

"You did nothing wrong," Albus reassured her quickly, though in fact, he knew _he_ would never have allowed the woman into the school. He would have noticed the different accent immediately. But it would do one any good to consider that now.

Before Albus could ask more questions, the door opened and the two ensigns rushed in.

Potter and Granger entered the room and ran over to their Captain without bothering to say a word to the teachers. They came to a stop in front of Albus and Potter whispered, "We found something."

Albus got up immediately.

~

They led the Captain to the classroom quickly, without a word. Hermione was still confused by what they had found, unsure of what to make of it. Captain Dumbledore didn't ask any questions, just followed behind her and Potter in silence, but Hermione could tell his mind was working quickly.

At the classroom, Potter pointed soundlessly to the teacher's desk. The Captain walked up to it, and Hermione followed, once again looking at the strange note they had found.

The note was written on paper- old fashioned paper made from trees. Hermione had only ever seen such things in museums and private collections. But there it was, laying in a schoolroom in a small human colony.

And what was written on it was just as strange. Symbols, scrolled one next to the other. The symbols were nothing Hermione had ever seen before. They were mostly basic shapes: circles, tringles, lines, squares and so on, shaped into one another. The symbol that had been branded into the dead teacher was among them.

The Captain stared down at the paper, and then raised his finger, hesitantly, almost reverently, and reached down to stroke the paper. Potter took a step forward, hands stiffly behind his back, and the shuffle of his feet seemed to remind the Captain that they were there, and he looked up, and Hermione was shocked to see his eyes were red.

"Good work," He said, voice completely calm. "We'll beam back up now. I know where the children are."

"Do you know what this means, sir?" Potter asked quietly.

The Captain hesitated, then nodded, "It's an invitation."

~

The door of their cell opened so suddenly that all eighteen of the children jumped as one. They huddled closer to each other as the door frame was taken up by a lean, tall man. The man came into the room, bringing in light. So much light that it was hard to see after the relative darkness the cell had been in before.

"Hello, children." The figure said in perfect Italian. Teddy, who had moved to the colony two years previously, still did not know Italian as well as he wished. But the man spoke so clearly and eloquently that Teddy could hear every syllable.

The children remained silent. Victoire's hold on Teddy's arm grew tighter, and he leaned into her touch, needing the comfort of her presence.

The man tilted his head and stepped into the room. as he did, his face became clearer to see. He had blond hair, and strange, mismatched eyes. The man smiled thinly and Teddy put his arms around Victoire in a protective way.

A few more men filed into the room after the strange-eyed man. He told them something quietly, and they began shuffling through the children, picking them up and moving them around the cell. Teddy held on to Victoire, but he was separated from her roughly, and as she was pulled away from him, he let out a yell and felt his hair turning bright red.

Oh, not good.

"Stop," Strange-eyes said softly. The man holding Teddy froze in place. Strange-eyes walked over to him and leaned next to Teddy. Teddy held back a shiver.

"You're a hybrid, aren’t you?"

Teddy nodded, feeling a lump start to raise in his throat. He didn’t want to cry, he was afraid of what might happen if he did.  

The man rose to his feet and told his man, "Take this one with us."

~

"Set course to Tarsus IV," The Captain commanded as he sat down on the captain's chair. Harry obeyed, but his mind was reeling. The strange note left for the Captain to find- it was clear that was its purpose- seemed to have upset the captain, but he would not reply to Harry's questions instead to say that he knew where the children would be. And he had taken it, Harry had noticed. He had put it into his pocket.

Before they left the colony, Harry's godfather had wished him luck, and conformed, after Harry asked, that Teddy was one of the kidnapped children. To Harry's angry demands to know why he had not told him earlier, Sirius had sighed and replied, "I thought you had enough of things to worry about."

Harry scoffed to himself as the USS Hogwarts energized. Of course he had enough things to worry about, that was no excuse not to tell him that Teddy was in danger. It just made him more determined to save the children.

Harry loved Sirius, who alongside his husband Remus had raised Harry after both his parents were killed in the service of Starfleet, but his tendency to hide his own worries and fears in favour of protecting those around him drove Harry off the wall.

 _Poor Teddy_ , he must be so scared, Harry thought _. I have to get him home. Shit!_

"Potter?" A gentle voice forced Harry out of his thoughts.

He looked over to see Granger looking at him with a concerned look on her face. harry cleared his throat and said, "Sorry."

"No, it's-" Granger was forced to stop when they came out of warp factor. They were above Tarsus IV, looking down at the planet.

"Minerva, you have the con," The Captain stood up. "Have some security officers meet us at the transporter room. Ensign Potter, come."

"Captain-" Granger started, but stopped when the Captain looked at her, sinking back into her chair. "Sorry, sir."

"You have nothing to be sorry about," Captain Dumbledore said calmly, "But I will need you to remain on the bridge, Ensign Granger."

"Yes, Captain."

"Thank you," The Captain got up from his chair. Harry gave Granger a reassuring smile, though she did not return his gesture, and hurried to catch up with his Captain.

He kept quiet as they went down to the transporter room, where a few security guards were waiting. The captain nodded at them and took his place on the transporter. Harry followed, keeping his eyes trained on the Captain, his nervous energy, as the beamed down.

They materialized in the middle of a street. The street was both long and wide, made of a light coloured stone. It was flanked by rows of small white houses with red roofs. It would have been a nice place if it wasn't so _quiet_ and _empty_. There was no sound of life, no animals or humans.

"Where are we?" Harry asked.

"After the massacre, the wounded were placed in that house," The Captain pointed to the house right in front of them. "I was here, at the time."

 _So was Granger_ , Harry thought. _That's why he didn’t want her to come._ He looked at his Captain, who smiled sadly.

"Wait out here," The Captain said. The security personal nodded and Harry moved forward, but the Captain raised his hand to stop him. "You'll stay out here, Ensign."

"But-" Harry began, unable to stop himself.

"Harry," The Captain raised his hand, and Harry grew silent. "Thank you."

He stood and watched as his Captain walked into the house.

~

The last time Albus had been there, he and some other officers had brought down most of the house's inner walls, creating a huge empty space where the wounded were put. About two hundred people had been crowded into the space, two hundred weak and thin wrecks of humans, close to death.

The area had been filled up to its full capacity, and had felt overwhelmingly small. Now, however, it was achingly large. An empty, dusty space with no place to hide behind in the event a phaser-fight broke out. Not that Albus thought it would.

There was one structure in the space, an enormous wooden cart positioned right in the middle.

"You came," A soft voice called out. Albus shivered. It was not the voice he had expected to hear. A young woman, with blond hair and green eyes, came out from behind the cart, holding a little boy by his sleeve. Albus took a step forward, and the woman placed a phaser to the boy's temple. Albus stopped immediately, and the boy let out a small whimper, his hair shifting from grey to black.

_Oh, no._

"Please stay where you are, Captain," The woman was speaking English, and did so with an American accent. She had a sweet, almost childlike voice that was far to high. It made a strange contrast with the coldness in her eyes. "I wouldn’t want this little one to have to suffer too much."

"I'll stay," Albus said calmly. He looked down at the boy and asked, in Standard, "Are you all right? Are the rest of the children in the cart?"

The boy nodded, and opened his mouth to speak, but the woman shoved him backwards with a tug. Albus reached to his pocket, slowly.

"Don't speak to him," The woman snapped. "And don’t even _think_ of taking your phaser out!"

Albus slowly took his hand out of his pocket and placed it on his side, "Very well. Will you tell me what you have been ordered to tell me?"

The woman stared at him for a moment, seemingly shocked that he knew what she had been sent to do, then said, "I-he told me to tell you he's letting you keep _this one_ ," She shook the boy, "As a gift. He says you can keep your pets, if you want."

Albus took a deep breath. He could imagine how those words would have sounded uttered in his voice, his soft German accent, his amusement.

"And," Then the woman looked down, seemingly embarrassed.

"What?" Albus asked. "What else?"

She looked up and cleared her throat, "He said, 'tell him I hope he had his fun. But now he's coming home to me'."

Albus felt a shiver go down his spine. It was good that just at that moment the woman let out a gasp and fell down, because he did not know what to say.

Ensign Potter appeared behind the fallen woman. Albus smiled softly, the boy had done exactly what he had told him. Potter rushed over to the boy and picked him up, and the boy fell into his arms with a cry of, "Harry!"

The security officers came into the house after Potter, like him climbing through the window behind the pirate woman. Albus put a hand in his pocket and took out the small communicator he had placed there. he had written a message to his men quickly, telling them to come through from the back, and that there was a hostage. He had been forced to write the message in short code, and he was quite proud of Potter that he had managed to figure it out so quickly.

"Help me get the crate open," Albus ordered his officers. "And someone bind that woman, beam her up and put her in the hold. And tell the sickbay to be ready to receive eighteen children."

"You think they're in here, sir," It was a flat statement, not a question, and Potter observed Albus from behind the boy clinging to him. He shifted the boy to his side and used one hand to help Albus pry the cart open.

Seventeen pairs of frightened eyes stared at him as the children blinked at the sudden light. They huddled into one another, or into themselves, and cried quietly.

"Hello," Albus said, as softly as he could. "My name is Albus, I'm with Starfleet. It's all right, will you come out?"

A few of those children nodded, and so Albus took hold of one of those children and raised her into his arms. The girl looked around as she was placed on the floor, and her face lit up when she saw the boy in Harry's arms.

"Teddy!"

After that yell, it was much easier to get the children out of the crate. Before long, they had all been beamed up, and Albus was left with Potter, who was watching him warily.

"Captain," Potter started hesitantly. Albus gave him one sharp look, that made him close his mouth. Albus hated stopping questions, and normally he encouraged them, but not now. Not about this.

He took out his communicator and said into it, "Beam us up."

"Aye, Captain."

Potter gave him one last look as they beamed up.


	2. And I Grew Older, And I Saw You Still

Queenie woke up suddenly. Her head hurt, and it was hard to think. She took a deep breath, eyes still closed, and moved her limbs, feeling something soft underneath her. She ran her fingers across it. She was laying in a soft bed, above the covers. She groaned and put her hand on her forehead.

"Are you awake, ma'am? How are you feeling?"

Queenie's eyes shot open and she sat up, looking around. She was in a small room, with white walls and white furniture. There was a cot, a desk, a chair and a screen. One of the walls was see-through, but Queenie could see the shimmering energy that indicated it was a force field. She would not be able to walk past it. Outside of her cell, beyond the force field, Albus Dumbledore sat on a chair, looking at her with a severe look.

Queenie had seen pictures of him, of course. His Starfleet ID photo, and some photos her master had shown her, of Albus Dumbledore as a young man. Laughing, reading a book, sleeping. He had been a pretty boy, sweet looking and kind. You could see it in his face. Now he was a man, a severe looking man. But he was still pretty.

Queenie tilted her head at the man and said, "Am I on the USS Hogwarts?"

"You are, ma'am," The Captain said calmly. "In the hold. And I would like to ask you some questions, if you please."

"Why are you being so _polite_?" Queenie murmured, slinking off the cot and moving towards the barrier, stopping only when she could feel the fizzle of the block. "You could just have me tortured for the answer."

"I would very much like to avoid such brutish measures," The Captain said dryly, expression unchanged. "It's quite unethical. Not to mention illegal."

Queenie shrugged, "Who would know?"

"Are you expecting to be tortured, my dear? Did he tell you to expect that?"

Queenie grew quiet, and then said quietly, "I expect nothing."

"But you will endure it."

"I will endure anything-"

"For your master?"

Queenie took a step backwards.

"Well?" Dumbledore asked, eye brow raised.

"Yes," Queenie whispered. "For my master."

Dumbledore took a deep breath and leaned backwards on his chair, "Let us start from the beginning, yes? Your name is Queenie Goldstein. You were hospitalized on Elba II, but escaped three months ago. How did you escape?"

"He-he rescued me," The memory made Queenie grin. He had come in the middle of the night, stepped into her room and asked he to follow him. She had done so without question. On the way out, she saw the body of one of the doctors. The one who often gave Queenie private physical exams. "Took me away."

"Queenie," Dumbledore sighs. "You're not fully human."

Queenie frowned, "No."

"Do you know, what he thinks about people like you?"

Queenie nodded silently, and the Captain looked at her sadly.

"Oh, child, what has he done to you?"

"He took care of me," Queenie insisted. She didn’t want the Captain to speak badly of her master. "He _takes_ care of me."

"He set you up to be captured," Dumbledore didn’t let up. "He left you behind."

"No!" Queenie yelled, furious. "He gave me a mission, an important one."

"To talk to me," Dumbledore kept as calm as he had been before, but there was fury in his eyes. It made Queenie take a step backwards.

"Yes," Queenie whispered.

"Your father was a member of a species that has telepathic abilities. Did you inherit any of those capacities, Queenie?"

She nodded. She was finding it impossible to lie to this man.

"Can you read minds?"

"Only by touch," Queenie whispered.

"And psychic bonds? Are you able to form them?"

"Yes."

Albus sighed deeply and stood up. He walked closer to the barrier and said, "Do you have a psychic bond with your master, Queenie?"

"I do," Queenie said, unable to stop the pride from entering her voice. "But, it's only one way."

"He can see through your eyes, but you can't see through his."

"Yes."

Dumbledore closed his eyes, "And can he hear?"

"Yes."

"Is he watching now?"

"Yes."

Dumbledore's eyes flew open and he glared at Queenie, "Hello, Grindelwald."

 ~

Gellert took a deep breath, eyes closed. He didn't want to see the room around him, wanted to immerse himself in what he could see in his mind, what he could see and hear through his creature's senses.

Al. _His_ Al. Looking at him, looking through the girl. Because he knew that she was of no importance, of no consequence. All of them were, they all meant nothing. It was just them, just the two of them.

"Everyone else is dust, everyone else is invisible," Gellert murmured. Albus had grown his beard. He had not had it in the last picture Gellert had had taken of him. Gellert didn’t like it. It hid Al's beautiful face. It also made him look older, which Gellert assumed was the idea.

But still, even with the beard, even with that ridiculous uniform Starfleet wore, Albus was still beautiful. And still _his_.

"Al, _meine liebe_ ," Gellert sighed as he undid his pants button and slipped a hand in.

"You've managed to put quite a spell on this poor girl," Al said calmly. His voice made Gellert shiver, and he began to stroke himself softly. He was already quite hard, just from seeing Albus and hearing his voice. He groaned softly.

"Queenie, I'm going to free you from this spell, I promise."

Gellert's eyes flew open. He gritted his teeth. Al had used his creature's first name. Never mind, Albus couldn’t ruin this for him, not this. No matter how infuriating Albus wanted to be. It didn't matter. Gellert went back to stroking himself.

"I'm going to go now, Queenie. But I promise you I will return to speak to you later," Albus said softly to the creature. And then he was walking away, walking away from Gellert. But in doing so he exposed his backside, and Gellert came with a loud groan.

~

_"I love doing this," He murmurs, looking down at Albus. He straddles Albus's hips, placing his hands on Albus's chest. Albus shivers as his cold fingers trace him. "Let me fuck you, Al."_

_"Ye-"_

_"Albus!" They both jump at the banging on the door. "Albus, come out!"_

_"_ _Aberforth," Albus gasps. His brother is calling him. That can only mean one thing._

_"Wait," His lover murmurs as Albus squirms from under him. "Wait."_

_"Just a second, Aberforth," Albus throws on some clothes as Gellert watches him from the bed._

_"You shouldn't leave," Gellert says. "If you do, I'll have to take care of myself. There'll be nothing left for you."_

_It's tempting, he wants to stay. He wants to stay in Gellert's arms, but he can hear crying outside the room. He rushes out of the room, closing the door behind him. As he closes the door behind him and calls down to Aberforth to get Ariana away from sharp objects, he heard Gellert start to take care of himself._

_It's hard to walk away._

~

Harry went to the dining hall later than usual. He had said goodbye to Teddy, who had been beamed down to the colony with the rest of the children. He would have liked to beam down with them, to speak to Teddy's fathers, and make sure the boy was all right. But the captain did not seem interested in staying for longer then it took to return the children. They had returned to their normal patrol duties.

When Harry got to the dining hall he found it mostly empty. Granger was sitting by herself on a table in the edge of the large hall. Harry got his food, moved to sit, then took a deep breath and strode purposely to Granger's table.

"May…May I join you?" He asked, his voice hoarser then he had hoped.

Granger looked up and smiled shyly, "Of course."

Grinning, Harry seated himself in front of her. He was painfully aware of how pathetic he looked with that silly grin plastered one his face, but he couldn’t help it.

They ate in silence for a few moments, but it was a compatible silence that made Harry's heart miss a few beats. Then Granger frowned, as though she had just remembered something and said, "Potter, can I ask you something?"

"Of course," Harry replied. He wanted to ask her to call him by his given name, but he was afraid that she might not want _him_ to call her by _her_ first name, so he kept quiet.

"The Captain, you've been under his command for a few years now, yes?"

"Three, yes," Harry replied, somewhat puzzled.

"In the Academy, they speak very highly of him. I wanted to serve under him from the beginning."

"A wise choice, I think."

Granger graced him with a half-smile, "Is he always like this? I can't understand him. One moment he's so kind, and the next-"

"He's not," Harry interrupted, his loyalty to the Captain overriding his wish to make a good impression on Granger. "He's not usually this…"

Harry looked around to find the right word, and Granger suggested, dryly, "Moody?"

"Yes, moody," Harry jumped on the suggestion with a grin. "He's not. Really. He's a wonderful Captain. This mission had been…Strange. But perhaps it's just having to return to Tarsus."

Granger flinched, but just slightly, and said, "Perhaps. I wonder if they got anything out of the pirate, yet."

A thought flickered through Harry's mind, and he smiled, "Why don't we go speak with her?"

Granger frowned at him, "Are we allowed to do that?"

Harry shrugged, "I haven't been given an explicit order _not_ to see her."

The young woman smiled faintly, "I'm not sure that's an invitation to go speak with her."

"Is that a no, then?"

~

How did she end up here, that was what Hermione was trying to understand. She had meant to tell Potter that no, they absolutely could _not_ go speak with the jailed woman, that she would not jeopardize her place in the USS Hogwarts for this. But then Potter had grinned and his eyes seemed to say to her _, come on, live a little_. And she had found it impossible to disappoint him.

So there she was, sitting next to Potter-rather _close_ to Potter- in front of the blond pirate's cell. She was sitting on the desk, reading a book on her screen. Tilting her head just so, Hermione could see the screen. The pirate was reading an old children's book from Earth.

"Miss?" Potter said calmly.

The pirate blinked and looked up. She smiled at Potter and Hemione and said, "Hello."

"Hello," Hemione mumbled back, but Potter raised his hand, as though to stop her from speaking. She blinked at him but obeyed as he spoke.

"Your name is Queenie, right?" Potter said. His tone was soft, and gentle. "My name is Harry."

"Harrrrrry," The pirate purred the name. "I like that."

"And I like your name," Potter said with a smile. "It's very…Regal."

"Thanks."

"What about Albus? Do you like that name?"

Queenie's smile faltered entirely, and she huddled into herself, "That's _his_ name. The Captain's."

"That's right," Potter said softly. "And what do you think of the name Gellert?"

"No," Queenie took a step backwards. Her head started shaking and she fell backwards on her cot. Her legs rose and she tucked them to her chest. "Please, no. No. Don’t talk about him."

Hermione frowned, running her hand through her hair, accidently releasing it from its bun.

Potter sighed and stood up, "It's all right, Queenie. You don't need to say anything else."

He turned to Hermione and said calmly, "Come. Let's go."

~

"Potter!" Granger ran after him as he stomped out of the hold. His mind was reeling, confused and frustrated. "Stop!"

Harry stopped, and turned. Granger rushed over to him, hair flying all around her. She was ridiculously beautiful with her hair freed from restraint like that. Harry shook his head to get rid of the thought.

"Who- who is _Gellert_?"

Harry sighed deeply and said, "Let's go get a coffee, shall we?"

~

They got coffees from the dinning hall and took them to one of the observatories. They sat down in front of the open sky full of stars, leaning their backs against the wall. Hermione waited patiently for a few moments as Potter sipped on his coffee.

"So, this has to stay between the two of us," Potter said, his fingers tracing the lip of his cup. "All right?"

Hermione nodded, staying still and quiet. She didn't want to say anything that might cause Potter to stop speaking.

"It was about five months earlier. I was at the bridge, and needed the Captain to approve of some calculations I made. I tried to page him, but he didn’t answer. I decided to go down to his room, to see why he wasn't answering. When I got there," Potter sighed deeply. "When I got there, the Captain was in his bed. Sleeping. Or rather, having a nightmare. He was sweating all over, thrusting around in his bed, whispering, _Gellert, Gellert, Gellert_."

Hermione swallowed.

"I woke him up. When I did, he was normal. Apologized for not answering me, checked the calculations. But there was something, in his eyes…"

Potter turned to glance at Hermione and added, "Well, I was curious. I know I shouldn’t have, but-"

"You researched the name," Hermione interrupted.

Potter blushed, "Yes. I know I shouldn't have. It had nothing to do with me, it was his private affair. But- well…"

Hermione nodded, understanding perfectly. She gave Potter an encouraging look, and he went on with his story.

"It didn’t take much time to find what I was looking for. Gellert is not exactly a common name, you know. I searched the Academy and Starfleet date bases, and found that one Gellert Grindelwald served on the USS Godric's Hollow along side Captain Dumbledore, when they were both sixteen-year-old ensigns. They served together for a year."

"During the Tarsus IV massacre?" Hemione asked quietly.

"Yes," Potter replied. "The massacre was during that time."

Hermione breathed in deeply, and noticed Potter was giving her a strange look before turning away and continuing.

"That didn’t give me much information, so I kept digging. And…I found out that at the end of the year the Captain's mother died, and he moved back to Earth, to England. He had two siblings, it said in his file. Aberforth and Ariana. They were both younger then him, and he was named as their legal guardian. He was only seventeen."

Hermione imagined the Captain, a young man, really still a boy, suddenly forced to take charge of two siblings, forced to leave his ship and his position in Starfleet. She couldn’t imagine how awful it would be if she was forced to be planet-bound in that way. Hermione shivered.

"Two months after Kendra Dumbledore's death, Ariana Dumbledore died as well."

Hermione spit out her coffee. She gasped and cleaned her mouth, looking down at the spilled coffee. Potter gently moved him aside and took out a tissue, cleaning the coffee from the floor.

"His sister _also_ died?" Hermione gasped.

"Yes," Potter said and threw the tissue into the bin nearby. "It was declared a suicide. She was fourteen."

She killed himself. A fourteen-year-old girl. Hermione shivered.

Potter sighed, "I don’t know if it's related, it might not be-though I doubt it…But Grindelwald resigned from Starfleet the very next day. And that was it. He disappeared. I couldn't find anything else about him."

He turned to her and his eyes became hard, "But I think we can both agree that it appears that he became a pirate, no?"

~

"Now, who was that little boy?" Gellert mused. Vinda Raiser, his First Mate, looked up from the 3-D chess board. She has never managed to prove herself a worthy adversary for Gellert, but sometimes he really needed to play. Gods, he was looking forward to playing Al again. Albus had been the only person Gellert ever played that managed to defeat him.

"What little boy?" Vinda asked.

"He was just talking to Queenie, asking about Al," Gellert said. "Smart boy, you can see it in his eyes. Albus must love having him around. He always liked the smart ones."

Vinda frowned at him, but knew better then to ask. Instead she made her move, and Gellert rolled his eyes. He had expected her to do that. Why were they so _predictable_? Noticing his displeasure, Vinda sighed and clicked her tongue, "Wrong move?"

Gellert grinned. What she lacked in intelligence, his First Mate more then made up for in sheer attitude. And she was loyal. Very loyal.

"Yes, it was the wrong move. But never mind, I would have had you beaten in four moves if you had made the right one. Now I'll have you beaten in two."

Vinda looked down at the board. She was not intelligent enough to understand her mistake. Never mind, Gellert would soon show her.

"How is Queenie doing?" Vinda asked.

Gellert hesitated, fingers stopping on the way to grab a piece. He looked up at Vinda coldly, "Worried about her wellbeing?"

Vinda raised an eyebrow, "About her performance. I'm not worried about the wellbeing of a filthy mudblood."

"She's preforming well. And be sure not to give me that impression again, Vinda."

She smiled then, a small, cruel smile, "I'm surprised you'd think so little of me."

Gellert laughed.

~

_"Breath," Albus whispers to his sister. Ariana sits with her head in her hands, breathing fast and hard. "Breath, Ari."_

_Ariana looks up, eyes red with tears. Her breath is still uneven, but it's slowly calming down. Albus leans down next to Ariana. He waits patiently for Ariana to relax. He knows better than to touch her when she's like this. He did, one time, and Ariana had sprained his wrist when she attacked him._

_"I'm sorry," She whispers. Such a small voice, like a child's. She's fourteen, but she has the voice of a child._

_"No, don’t say that," Albus shakes his head. "You don’t need to be sorry, Ariana."_

_"Did I hurt you this time?"_

_"No, love. And you didn't hurt yourself, either," Aberforth had caught Ariana just as she had grabbed a knife that someone had forgotten to lock away. Albus had a sneaking suspicion that it had been him, but he was not sure. "Come, lets get you to bed."_

_Ariana nods dimly, and does not object as Albus raises her from the ground and leads her to her room. As they walk past the living room, he catches Aberforth's angry scowl._

~

_Come, love, to where you first let me have you._

Albus clutched the note in his hand, shivering slightly. The words had been playing in his mind over and over for hours now.

"Captain."

Albus looked up as his First Mate walked into the room. Minerva McGonagall was a severe woman who rarely smiled and never laughed. She had been on Albus's crew for the whole seven years he had been Captain, and he trusted her utterly.

"We got a message from Elba II. They are prepared to take Queenie Goldstein back into their custody. Shall we set a course there?"

"Not yet," Albus said. "I need to talk to her again."

Minerva hesitated, then said, "Was it him, sir?"

Albus closed his eyes, "Yes. It was."

"He became a pirate."

Albus opened his eyes and smiled bitterly, "I'm as surprised as you. It does seem a rather selfish endeavor, doesn’t it?"

"What does he want, Captain?"

Albus leaned back on his chair, "I can't say."

"But you believe that he's after you."

Of course he is.

"You have no cause for concern, Minny."

"Captain-"

"That will be all, Commander McGonagall," Albus said with finality and waved his First Mate out of the room.

~

Seven years working under Captain Dumbledore, he had never dismissed her in such a way. Not once. Minerva stomped down the hallway with a frown on her face. she noticed how the men and women she had passed moved out of her way as she passed. She was radiating danger.

Minerva stopped in front of the holding cell. The prisoner was sitting on the floor, humming to herself and moving her fingers in time to the music. It was oddly tender sight, like a child caught at play. Minerva watched in silence for a few moments before the prisoner noticed her presence. She looked up, the humming dying in her mouth.

"Who are you?" She asked with wonder.

"I am Minerva McGonagall, First Officer of this vessel," Minerva replied stiffly.

The prisoner frowned, "Why have you come?"

"To talk to you about Grindelwald."

Minerva watched with fascination as the prisoner stumbled backwards, using her hands to push herself against the wall. She shook her head and squeaked, "I will not say anything bad against him."

"Of course not," Minerva caught up quickly. "I would never dream of speaking against him."

The prisoner narrowed her eyes, "Are you trying to trick me?"

"No, Queenie. Of course not," Minerva sat down in front of the prisoner. "I met him, a long time ago."

"You did?" Queenie frowned. "When?"

"When he was still in Starfleet. He was two years above me at the Academy, though he got transferred to a ship at a very young age."

"Yes, he's very smart," Queenie said softly. Minerva was somewhat stunned to see the look of pure love radiating from the young woman. How could someone feel such devotion to a man who considered her lesser then himself?

It probably helped that Queenie had some severe mental health issues, but Minerva knew that wasn't it. Not entirely. She knew how persuasive Grindelwald could be, how charming, how intoxicating.

Queenie was smiling, as though just the talk of Grindelwald made her happy. She folded her legs and propped an elbow on one of her knees, placing her chin in her palm.

Minerva could see she was starting to win her over, and said carefully, "The Captain told me Grindelwald was the most intelligent man in our galaxy."

"He's very important," Queenie said. "To my master. The Captain."

"Is he?" Minerva's heart skipped a beat. She felt her hands curling against the arms of the chair in anger and forced herself to remain calm. "Listen, Queenie. I'm going to get you out. I'm going to take you back to your master."

"No," There was steel in her voice now, and her eyes, which before had shown with devotion, turned hard. "I stay here."

"Why?" Minerva asked quietly.

"That's my job."

"I see," Minerva replied.

"You do?"

"I think I do," Minerva stood up and walked closer to the barrier. "Listen to me, Grindelwald. Stay away from my Captain, or I will make you regret the day you were spawned."

~

_"This can't keep happening," Aberforth says sharply, as they sit next to each other in the kitchen. "You know it can't."_

_"I know," Albus replies heavily. He's exhausted, furious and confused. Ariana had had two episodes that day, the last one ending in her nearly bashing her skull into the window. That was new._

_"You left the knife out-"_

_"I did not!" Albus snaps. But he's not sure. His mind had been so full of the conversation he and Gellert had had while he made breakfast that he could not be sure he had not forgotten the knife. He doesn’t want to think about it._

_"Well, it wasn't me," Aberforth replies. "Unlike you, I never,_ ever _forget."_

_Albus winces, but anger is quickly overriding guilt. Anger at his brother, at his sister. Anger at his own captivity. And he says, trough gritted teeth, "We can't do this anymore."_

_"Of course we can, if we just-"_

_"No, Abe. We can't. She's sick, she needs professional treatment. She needs to be hospitalized."_

_Aberforth shakes his head, stunned, "How could you even say that? We promised Mum-"_

_"And look what happened to Mum!" Albus yells, raising from his chair. "That freak killed her!"_

_As soon as the words come out of his mouth, Albus turns white. He puts his hand over his mouth, but it's too late now. His brother is looking at him as though he were a stranger. And in a way, Albus supposes he is._

_"Freak," Aberforth repeats dully._

_"I didn't- I didn’t mean-"_

_"No, I think you did," Aberforth cuts in. He looks up at his older brother and growls, "I wish I could kill you. But then what would happen to our sister?"_

_"Aberforth-"_

_"I'm going to check on Ariana," Aberforth stands up, avoiding Albus's eyes. "And if she heard you, I swear that you will not make it alive to the dawn."_

~

Albus goes back to speak to Queenie one more time before they return her to Elba II. He would have liked to keep her for longer, to try and free her from the spell Grindelwald put on her. But he knew better then to expect such a thing can be achieved by him. He was unsure if the doctors at Elba II could do it, but they at least would have a better chance than him.

They won't remind her of Grindelwald every time she sees them.

Albus shivered as he seated himself in front of Queenie. The girl was humming to herself, and Albus recognized the song. It was an old German lullaby, _Guten Abend, gut' Nacht_ , Good Evening Good Night. Albus had heard Grindelwald sing it more than once.

"Queenie," Albus said softly, but it was enough to cause the woman's eyes to pop open and turn to him with unnerving intensity.

"Albus," She said with a smile. "Have you come to talk to my master again?"

"No, Queenie. I've come to talk to you."

"He won’t like that," Queenie warned.

Albus laughed, a bitter, hollow laughter, and said, "I'm not ever concerned with what he will and will not like. Though you are current. He wouldn't like you being treated like a full person."

"That's because I'm not," Queenie said slowly, as though she were explaining a very simple concept to a child and is exasperated eh is not understanding it faster. "I'm a mudblood."

Albus winced at the derogatory term, "You're a hybrid. Don’t call yourself a mudblood."

The woman looked at him with confusion and Albus sighed.

"Listen, Queenie. Having nonhuman DNA is not something that makes you dirty, or unworthy, or lesser then anyone else. In fact, it's a wonderful thing. It makes you special, gives you abilities most humans can only dream of. It makes you unique."

"But it makes me inhuman," Queenie replied. And there was such deep sadness in her voice that it broke Albus's heart.

"I used to think the same," Albus said quietly. He wondered idly what Grindelwald was thinking of this discussion, but put the thought out of his mind. He had to concentrate on the girl before him. "When I was younger. I used to think that humans having children with other species would be the beginning of the end for humanity. That what makes as unique and special would disappear, and we would become a collection of traits given to us by other species."

"Yes-"

"No, Queenie. No. humanity is special because it changes. Look at the Vulcans. I have a deep respect for the Vulcan way of life, but it's stagnant. It's barely changed in the past thousands of years. That's all well and good for them, but humanity is not like that. We thrive on change, we embrace it. So, perhaps we won't stay the same if we breed with others. But humanity has never not been changing. It's not new or special. And are always those who despite those changes when they comes. But history never remembers them as saviours, do they?"

Queenie was staring at him, confused. But Albus could see her confusion did not lay in an inability to understand what he was saying. No, she was intelligent enough for that, despite appearances. It was only that his words contrasted so deeply with what she believed that she was having trouble processing them. it was like a screen had been placed over her mind, a screen that filtered all information served to her and discarded anything that might interfere with her view of herself as inferior.

"What have you done to this poor girl?" Albus spit out, unable to stop himself. "You've destroyed her mind."

He could almost hear Grindelwald's chuckled response, _but Al, she was already broken. She was in a hospital for the criminally insane, remember?_

Queenie stared at Albus with wide, confused eyes, and he sighed deeply and said, "Don't worry, Queenie. We'll take care of you."

~

Harry was sitting in the rec room, watching a movie with some other crewmen, when Hemione Granger banged in. She was looking incredibly dishevelled, her hair flying all around her and her eyes wild. The other crewmen blinked and murmured as she rushed towards them, not using to seeing the usually composed Helmswoman this way.

But Granger ignored them all in favour of making a beeline to Harry and grabbing his arm, saying, "You have to come with me."

"Huh? Oh, sure," Harry mumbled and stood up, completely shell shocked. He allowed himself to be led to a far corner of the rec room, where they would not be heard, and steered into a chair. Granger sat down in front of him and took a deep breath.

"What is it?" Harry asked, dumfounded.

"I did some digging of my own," Granger told him. She looked down at the table and blushed deeply.

"What did you do?" Harry asked, amused. "Nothing illegal, I hope."

He had meant it as a joke, but Granger just blushed deeper- if that was possible, and hid her face in her hands.

"That was a joke," Harry said, eyes wide. "You didn’t-what did you do?"

"I…It's not serious. I just…Hacked into some private records."

"That's not serious?" Harry gasped. "What private records? Did you hide your tracks? What-"

"The private records of one Percival Dumbledore," She murmured into her hands. "He was a Captain in Starfleet and the father of Albus, Aberforth and Ariana."

"Oh," Now Harry was curious. He leaned forward in his chair.

"I was curious, after our conversation, about the Captain's family. So, I researched his parents, and I found something quite odd. His father disappears from all Starfleet records around when the Captain was nine. He's on some Starfleet committees in England, he's teaching in the British Starfleet base, and then he just disappears, one day. And his file is no longer public record."

"So, you hacked into Starfleet's database," Harry is shocked. He knew Granger was smart but that was on another level. "Is that even possible?"

Granger's eyes appeared behind slits in her fingers and she said, "Clearly it is. Since I did it."

"Fair enough. So, what did you find?"

Granger swallowed, "That…the Captain's father was imprisoned for the murder of three teenagers. Who were all half-Orion."

Harry feels a sick sensation that he may be about to vomit, "It was a hate crime?"

Granger shrugged, looking as confused as Harry felt, "I don't know. Percival never spoke about his motivations. But what else could it be? What else would cause a man to kill three teenagers who did nothing to him?"

"I don’t know," Harry admitted. It did seem quite clear. But the thought of the Captain's father being a bigot made him feel as though he needed a shower.

"Well, I suppose it doesn't really matter now, does it? Percival died in prison ten years ago. And by that point both his wife and daughter were dead."


	3. You'd Stay Close to Me Sometimes Behind My Shoulder

"This should be interesting," Hermione murmured. Potter graced her with a puzzled look before turning to the front again, face expressionless. "I've never been…to a place like this."

"I have," Potter replied as Commander McGonagall came into the transporter room, followed by three guards who were flanking the pirate between them. The woman's blond hair was sticking all around her, and she looked around in wonder. She was looking quite well, despite everything. Rather…pleased.

"Let's go," Commander McGonagall ordered curtly, and Hermione followed Potter and then guard to the transporters. As she took her place and the beaming process began, she stole one look at Potter. He was frowning. He had been frowning for hours now, ever since she told him what she discovered about the captain's father.

They materialized inside the facility, and there were doctors and orderlies in white coats already waiting for them. One of the doctors, a grave looking man, came forwards and turned to McGonagall, correctly identifying her as the superior officer.

"Commander McGonagall, I presume?"

"Yes, and you must be Dr. Coy."

"I am, and I must thank you for the safe return of our patient," Dr. Coy turned to Queenie and his voice was gentle as he asked, "How are you feeling, Queenie?"

"I'm all right, doc," Queenie said, completely calm as two orderlies took hold of her arms.

The doctor sighed, "I suppose your pirate companions haven’t been giving you your medicine?"

"Noooope," Queenie said, lengthening the word in her mouth.

"Very well, Queenie. I will come to see you soon," The two orderlies holding Queenie began pushing her, none to gently, out of the room. Hermione saw the woman grimace in pain and her lips thinned.

Dr. Coy sighed again and motioned them to follow. As they walked through a long white corridor he said, "I must thank you again. We were quite worried."

 _I'm sure_ , Hermione thought bitterly. _Worried about your reputation, most likely._

They came to a stop at what appeared to be the doctor's office. It was, in Hermione's opinion, too fancy for a doctor's office. But she said nothing as she and Potter stood stiffly behind the chair the doctor had motioned the Commander into.

"I'm sorry Captain Dumbledore couldn’t beam down," Dr. Coy said as he seated himself behind his desk. "I was looking forward to discussing his latest article on applying Freud's methods to modern times."

Hermione blinked and stared at Potter, who's lips had curled into a small smile. Hermione was so relieved to see something other than a frown on his face that she nearly stumbled backwards, bit caught herself. She _did_ , however, shiver ever so slightly when Potter leaned in and whispered, "The Captain contributes to numerous scientific publications. He says it keeps his mind occupied."

His mind occupied? He was a Starfleet captain! Didn’t he have enough on his plate?

"I'm sure he would have found the conversation delightful," The Commander said dryly and Hermione suppressed a smile. "But we have not come here for that."

Dr. Coy frowned, "You've come to return Queenie?"

"And also to make sure an escape like this does not happen again."

The doctor sat straighter, pulling his white coat down in a attempt to look more dignified. It was not successful.

"Commander, if you're implying we were derelict in our duty-"

"You mistake me. I'm not implying, I'm stating: you were derelict in your duty. Not only was there a successful escape from this supposedly maximum-security facility, but a member of your staff was killed."

"We have taken steps-"

"To ensure this doesn't happen again? Very good. I would like to inspect whatever changes you've made to security," Commander McGonagall stood up. "In the meantime, have someone show Ensigns Potter and Granger to the cell Miss Goldstein is normally kept in."

She turned to Hermione and Potter and said, sharply, "The Captain seems to think highly of the two of you. Don’t prove him wrong. Find us something useful."

~

Harry was glad to have something to distract him. Going through Queenie's cell was perhaps not the must stimulating exercise, but it at least kept his mind of Percival Dumbledore and the disturbing implications that his Captain had been raised by a racist.

Harry himself was fully human, but being raised by a hybrid, and having another- Teddy- as a godson, made him distinctly aware of the prejudice they faced in certain circles. On Earth especially there was still a distinct sense that it was preferable, to say the least, to be fully human, and people often bragged that they could trace their ancestry back to the time when Earth was hidden from the rest of the galaxy, and you would not find a single alien. People like that tended to call themselves 'pureblood'. It was a word that brought bile to Harry's mouth.

'Purebloods' were the people who made it almost impossible for Remus Lupin to find work on Earth, the people who made Teddy's school experience a nightmare. They were the reason that eventually the Lupin-Black family had decided to leave Earth to the more tolerant colonies. Harry hated them. 

Harry sighed deeply and shook his head, beginning to search the cell. He didn’t want to think about, not right then. Right then he would focus on what was in front of him.

Like all of the other cells in the long corridor, Queenie's cell was about three meters and a half in width and two in length. There was a thin wooden cot and a light fixture on the ceiling. The walls were padded and white, and there was a force field keeping the inmates inside. There was a small screen next to the cot which held a few books and games.

"Do all the patients have the same books?" Granger asked the orderly who was standing outside the door, watching them silently.

"We changed them once in a while, according to what the doctors decide. Why?"

"Because one of these books is _'A True Human_ '," Granger replied.

"What's that?" Harry asked.                                                                          

Granger rolled her eyes, "Honesty, don't you read?"

"I read, but I haven't read every book ever written."

Granger let out a small groan and said, " _'A True Human_ ' is a book written about a hundred years ago on Earth, it's considered by scholars to be the originator of the term 'mudblood'. It's a manifesto against-"

"Humans breeding with other species?" Harry suggested dryly. He turned to the orderly and said, "Is this really what you let your patients read in their free time?"

"I don’t know what each doctor allows their patients, but I highly doubt this book would be one of them," The orderly replied with wide eyes.

"Right," Granger mumbled and walked over to the screen. "Give me a moment."

Harry watched, fascinated, as Granger hacked into the facility's mainframe in under five minutes. When she looked up, she caught Harry's awed expression and blushed.

"What?" She asked.

"You're amazing," Harry said without thinking. Then he wanted to kick himself and groaned. "I mean-"

Granger cleared her throat and said, "I, um, found something."

"What is it?" Harry asked immediately, glad for the distraction.

"So, I'm not the first person to hack into the mainframe," Hermione said, still blushing. "The book? It wasn’t placed in Queenie's screen by any doctor. It was put in there from an outside source, six months ago."

"What?" Harry frowned. "From where, can you tell?"

Granger nodded, "I'll need to use the Hogwarts's computers, but yes. I think I can." Granger turned to the orderly and said, "Could you please get us the list of books Queenie's doctors allowed her?"

"Of course," The orderly nodded and walked away. He seemed glad to be leaving. Probably wanted to be as far from the Starfleet officers as possible. No one enjoyed being told they screwed up. As soon as he was far enough not to hear, Granger turned to Harry.

"Listen, Potter. I get the feeling that if we tell the Captain about this he will not allow me to look into it."

Harry nodded, "I get that feeling too."

Granger bit her lip, "Could you…Maybe not tell the Captain? Just for a few hours, just until I can trace it?"

Harry couldn’t help but grin, "I thought you were all about the rules, Granger."

Granger looked down and mumbled, "I guess you're a bad influence at me."

Harry laughed.

~

"Grindelwald's ship disguised themselves as a merchant ship carrying supplies the asylum ordered. That's how they managed to get through the colony's protective force field and got themselves beamed down. They went straight to Goldstein's room, took her, killed a doctor and were out. It was a smooth operation, they knew exactly what guards and orderlies would be where and avoided them. They were already gone by the time anyone realized that the patient was missing," Minerva told Albus.

He nodded slowly, "That's unsurprising. Grindelwald would never do anything so drastic without planning ahead of time. And without a good reason."

"A good reason? Such as?"

"Queenie."

Minerva frowned and said, "Why would he value her? He doesn’t even consider hybrids to be human."

"He would value her as a tool, not a person," Albus said bitterly. "A rather useful tool, don’t you think? A way to spy on the Hogwarts, without any machines. A spy we were forced to keep on the ship for some time. Rather useful."

Minerva narrowed her eyes at him, "Spy on _you_ , you mean."

Albus closed his eyes.

"Captain. _Albus_."

"Yes, Minerva, I know," Albus snapped, eyes still closed.

"Then what are you going to do about it?"

Albus opened his eyes slightly, "I'll think of something."

~

_He's nine, and he's sitting on his mother's lap. They're in the courtroom, and his father is being led in, shackled and dressed in prison garb. Albus hears his mother chocking back her tears and he pats her shoulder consolingly. She hugs him to her chest, but too tight. It hurt._

_His father turns to look at them as he's led to the table. He smiles gently as the judge walks in. Everyone stands up and then sits down again as the judge does. Kendra places Albus on her lap again, and he lets her, because he can tell it keeps her calm._

_"Due to the horrific nature of the crime, and the fact that the accused refuses to explain the reasons for his crime or show remorse, I have decided to give the accused the maximum time possible. I hereby sentence you to three consecutive life sentences."_

_"No!" Kendra screams, then puts her hand on her mouth, trying to take back her outburst. But it's too late. Albus's father turns to look at his wife, and Kendra collapses into tears at the sight of Percival's defeated  face. Albus feels his mother's tears on his head and shutters._

_Later, when they return home, Ariana is still sleeping. Kendra had given her a hypospray to put her to sleep before she and Albus had left for the courthouse. Aberforth is sitting on Ariana's bed, watching her sleep. He looks up when Kendra and his brother come in._

_"Boys," Kendra says softly, running her hand through Aberforth's hair. The boy leans into his mother's touch, seeking comfort. "We're going to be leaving London soon. It's too dangerous for Ariana here."_

_"What?" Albus cries out, distressed. "We can't! Father is here, and our schools-!"_

_"We have to," Kendra says sharply._

_"But-"_

_"It's all right, Mummy," Aberforth interrupts and grabs Kendra's arm, hugging it tightly. "We'll move. For Ari."_

_Albus bites his lip._

~

Hermione sits next to Potter in front of the computer. They've been siting there for nearly an hour, and Hermione has to give it to him: Potter knows how to watch in silence. She had not expected this to take so long, but whoever engineered the hack into the asylum's mainframe is quite good, and it was harder then she expected to trace the signal back to its point of origin.

"There," Hermione sighed deeply and leaned backwards, rubbing her face.

Potter blinked at her and smiled, "You found where the hack had come from?"

Hermione nodded, "Look." She pointed to the screen, where a beeping spot is moving across the stars in the map.

"It's moving."

"I traced the signal back to its origin point, which appears to be someone's person computers. And currently, as you can see, it's on a spaceship."

"Wild guess as to who the ship belongs to," Potter murmured.

"I don’t understand why a pirate would break into an asylum, take nothing of value and free a patient," Hermione said, baffled.

"I don’t know," Potter admitted. "It is strange, isn't it? This whole thing is strange. Why kidnap eighteen children just to release them, and let us capture one of their own? Why take a patient from an asylum for the criminally mentally insane?"

"It doesn't seem to make much sense, does it?" Hermione agreed. "Another strange thing. The book that the pirates hacked into, it's a manifesto of why people like Queenie Goldstein is a lesser creature. Why would they give that to her? and why would she read it?"

"You know she read it?"

"The computers can tell what books are read and how many times they'd been read- so that the doctors can know what their patients are doing. Queenie read that book, let me see…. forty-one times. The whole book. Cover to cover."

"Cover to cover?"

"It's an old expression, from when books were physical. It means from beginning to end."

"Jeez. That's a hell of a lot of time spent reading for a mental patient. I don't know about you, but I didn’t get the impression that Queenie was the most intelligent of people."

"You'd be surprised," Hermione replied. "I hacked into her file-"

"Of course you did," Potter rolled his eyes, then raised his hands in surrender when Hermione scowled at him. "Sorry. Go on."

"Well, according to her file, Queenie stopped maturing emotionally at about ten. Her IQ is 138."

"That's not low."

"No, it’s not."

Potter groaned loudly, "So she's child in the body of an adult. That still doesn't explain what Grindelwald wants from her. Tell me what else you found out."

Hermione narrowed her eyes at the screen, "Let's see…She suffers from psychotic episodes and an incredibly low self-esteem-"

"Stop," Potter raised his hand. "Low self-esteem?"

"Ah, yeah."

"The kind of low self-esteem that might make a woman believe she is a lesser form of humanity?"

Hermione stared at Potter. He surprised her sometimes.

"Yes, like that kind."

Potter tilted his head slightly and said, "He was grooming her."

Hermione swallowed, "Seems so."

"Fuck."

"Aha."

"Still doesn’t answer the why, though."

"We could ask the Captain-" Hermione gasped. "Oh, the signal's stopped!"

"Where?"

Hermione looked at the screen, "Alpha Eridani II. It has a Federation colony on it."

"Granger, that's where we're going now. For shore leave, it's been planned for weeks. What the fuck."

The stared at one another for a moment and Potter said, "We should tell the captain."

"We should," Hermione agreed. "What do you think he'll do?"

"Tell us not to worry and deal with it himself."

"That could be dangerous."

"It could."

"Well," Hermione said sternly. "Part of our duty to Starfleet is to keep the Captain, who is quite valuable to the Federation, safe."

Potter grinned at her, "We're not going to tell him, are we?"

Hermione sighed, "Probably not."


	4. When I Was Weary, Trouble Would Come

"This sucks," Ensign Seamus Finnigan, who was standing in front of Harry, groaned. "Of all the colonies we could get shore leave on, did it just have to be the most boring and vanilla planet in the entire galaxy?"

"Stop complaining so much," Ensign Dean Thomas said from his position next to Seamus. "As long as there's a bar and some –"

"Don’t say it-"

" _Girls_ , then I'll be happy."

"I asked you not to say it."

Harry, who was trying hard not to laugh, was glad to see Granger coming down the hall. He motioned her over and she came to stand beside him, murmuring apologies to the people she passed in the line.

"Thank God you're here," Harry whispered to her. "I was about to make fun of a lovers' quarrel."

Granger glanced at him, looked at the two Ensigns in front of them and smiled, "That wouldn't be nice."

"Well, it was hard not to," Harry said gravely. "In fact, I still might. I need distraction. What have you been up to?"

"Creating a portable tracker we can take with us," Granger replied.

"Oh," Harry said, impressed all over again. "That's neat, Granger."

"Hermione," Granger said, and then blushed deeply, looking away.

"Huh?" Harry blinked, suddenly unable to think clearly in either English or Standard.

"Hermione," Granger replied, so quietly Harry could barely hear. "That's my name. You can- only if you want…"

She seemed as lost as Harry felt as she darted him a look. She seemed to bracing herself for disappointment. His heart skipped a beat.

"No, I want!" Harry said hastily. Maybe too hastily? He wasn't sure. _Dammit_. "Harry. I mean, that's my name. Harry. You should call me Harry. If you want. Sorry. I mean…Never mind."

Harry looked down at the ground, wondering how probable it was that the Hogwarts would suddenly plummet to the planet bellow and grant him sweet death. Not very, he decided sadly.

"All right," Granger- Hermione! - looked up at him. "Harry, then."

Harry found himself grinning like an idiot as they stepped onto the platforms and beamed down.

~

_It's awful, it's disgusting, and he hates himself for it. but when they tell him, when his Captain gravely tells him that his mother has died, the first thing that goes through his mind is, 'now I'll have to go home.'_

_Albus stands stiffly in attention as Captain Bagshot informs him that his mother Kendra was found dead in their home by Aberforth when he returned from school._

_"It appears that your mother fell down some stairs and broke her neck. At least that's what the police think right now."_

_Albus nods, though he very much doubts that was the true cause of his mother's death. He feels a growling rage scratching on the insides of his stomach, trying to pry a way out. It's an old anger, a wall of anger whose first brick was laid the day his father was sentenced and he was forced to leave his home. a wall that grew over the years, with bricks made of panic attacks and crying mothers and psychotic episodes and phone calls from prison and devoted brothers and disappointment and shame._

_"Once we reach our destination, we'll organize a way to get you back to Earth, Ensign. You should be with your siblings shortly."_

_"Thank you, Captain," Albus replies stiffly. She must think he's itching to get home, to comfort his younger siblings and care for them. That would be the worthy reaction, wouldn't it? Why can't he feel that way?_

_What's wrong with him?_

_"Well, that will be all, Ensign. But be sure to check in at the sickbay if you feel the need."_

_"Thank you, Captain," Albus repeats, then turns and walks out of the room._

_Gellert is waiting for him outside, idly reprograming a mechanic dog to bite anyone it encounters. He looks up when Albus comes out, turning the machine off with a snap, dropping it into the floor (someone will find it later, and get bit) and hurrying to catching up with Albus, who’s stomping away._

_"What did the Captain want?" Gellert asks._

_"To tell me my mother died and I need to return to Earth," Albus says curtly. He's feeling the grief now, and blinks his eyes to stop from crying._

_"What?" Gellert growls. "You can't leave!"_

_"I don’t exactly have a choice-ow!" Albus gasps as Gellert grabs him and smashes him against the wall._

_"You can't leave," Gellert repeats, placing his palms on either side of Albus's head, trapping him in. "You can't leave me. I won’t let you."_

_Albus stares. It's hard to think clearly with Gellert so close to him, with his warm breath against his skin and his piercing miss-matched eyes glaring into him. He swallows, trying to stop the heat spreading through his body. but it's too late. He realizes it when Gellert's eyes begin to spark._

_"You don’t want to leave," Gellert murmurs, taking one hand off the wall and tracing it across Albus's collar bone to his neck._

_"Of course I don’t," Albus croaks._

_"Then stay," Gellert's fingers trace Albus's neck up to his jaw, and he cups his cheek in his hand. "Stay with me."_

_Albus closes his eyes, but as he does so the imagine of Ariana's terrified face spring to his mind. It makes him shake, the memory of her, a seven-year-old girl, covered in her own blood. It makes him jerk away from his lover and gasp._

_"I have to go back," Albus groans, slipping away from Gellert. "I have to, I have to."_

_Gellert's eyes cloud with rage, and Albus looks away. He doesn’t want to look, he doesn’t want to see. He knows if he does, he'll lose his resolve. And he can't do that._

_He has to walk away._

~

"I don’t know what Seamus was complaining about," Harry said, sounding- in Hermione's opinion- far to pleased. "It seems like a lovely planet."

"How are so calm?" Hermione demanded. "We're…We're committing treason!"

"Not my first time."

"Not… _Not your first time_?!" Hermione gaped.

"Oh, my friends and I have been doing shit like this since out first year in the Academy," Harry replied with a grin.

"What? How were you not expelled? How were you not put away?"

Harry shrugged, as though he were as befuddled by Hermione as that, "No idea. I guess the instructors liked me. Anyway, come on. Pretty place, isn’t it?"

Hermione bit her lip, and followed Harry. He had a point: Alpha Eridani II was a beautiful planet. It was very similar to the Forest of Dean, where she had gone hiking with her parents when they came to Earth one time. A green, lush space full of trees and rivers. The inhabitants of the Federation colony, who appeared to belong to numerous different species, lived in small wooden huts situated next to the larger water ways. As Harry and Hermione walked through the small village they had beamed down to, Hermione thought that it was a rather pleasant and relaxed place, and she found herself lolled into a sense of calm.

Which was destroyed the moment Harry said, "You still have their location?"

Hermione nodded, "They're on the planet. If they stay in place, it should take us about four hours to reach them. They seem to be in the middle of the forests, pretty far from any of the villages."

"Hmm," Harry nodded, and suddenly Hermione grabbed him, unsure of what exactly she was doing.

"We're just going to see. If we actually find Grindelwald, we'll go back and get reinforcements. All right?"

Harry looked down at his arm, where Hermione's hand lay. He looked up at Hermione and she immediately took her hand away and mentally kicked herself.

"Let's go," She said, frustrated at how croaked her voice sounded.

~

_"Al, there's someone at the door," Aberforth yells to him. Albus groans and puts his face in his hands. He's trying to read the latest Vulcan journal of science and it's hard enough with Ariana's periodic screaming._

_"Then get it!" Albus yells back. "Bring Ariana to my room and-"_

_"Just get the door, Albus! For fuck's sake!"_

_"No cursing!"_

_"Fuck you!"_

_Albus sighs and puts his screen down, "Fine! I'll get it, I'll get it."_

_Aberforth doesn’t respond, and Albus rolls his eyes and leaves his room. As he walks to the front door he hears pounding and rolls his eyes._

_"All right, just wait a mome-" He flings the door open and stops._

_Gellert stands in front of him, leaning against the door frame, a lean smile on his face and sparkle in his eyes. Albus stares._

_"Hi, Al-"_

_But Gellert is unable to finish the sentence as Albus throws himself into his arms and begins kissing roughly, hungrily. He feels Gellert smiling against him and then warm hands come around his waist, pulling him closer, until he can feel Gellert's heart beat against his own, and he feels safe, secure and protected._

_When they break for air, Albus mumbles, "I missed you."_

_"I missed you too," Gellert replies as Albus presses his face against Gellert's shoulder blade. He runs his hands down Albus's spine, making him shiver. "I missed you so much."_

_"Why-why are you here?" Albus asks, wrapping his arms around Gellert's neck._

_"For you. I'm staying here with you."_

_"What?" Albus jerks himself away, or tries, since Gellert's arms hold him securely in place. "You can't, you'll put your promotion at risk!"_

_Gellert scoffs, "So? What's the point of staying in Starfleet if you're not with me?"_

_The words make Albus grin like an idiot and he allows himself to be pressed deeper into Gellert's chest, "I don’t want you to lose your place because of me."_

_"I already told you, I don’t care. Besides, I don’t think that Starfleet will be the best place for us."_

_"Huh? Why?" Albus is finding it hard to think clearly. He can feel Gellert growing hard against him._

_Gellert places his hands on Albus's waist and pushes him slightly backwards so he can look in his face. His expression is greedy and pleased._

_"Because we're going to be kings, instead."_

~

They walked for a few hours in relative silence, only speaking to one another to warn of pitfalls and branches. Harry felt strangely comfortable around Hermione, not feeling the need to impress her as they walked together. She was a calm presence next to him, a stable one he had no fear of losing at the moment. It was quite relaxing.

"Harry?" Hermione asked, haltingly. "Can I ask you a question?"

Harry nodded and jumped down the small hill they were on. He reached out and took Hermione's hands, helping her down. When their bodies touched he felt a jolt of electricity that made him break into a spontaneous smile that he immediately suppressed, not wanting to look to much like a creep.

"What would you like to know?" Harry asked as Hermione jumped to his side.

"It's…I really shouldn’t ask this-"

"But now I'm curious," Harry said with a grin. "So, now you have to."

"It's really private-"

"Hermione, just ask your question," Harry said with a roll of his eyes. "You're far too worried of insulting people. Anyone ever told you that?"

"Yes," Hermione growled, but then she smiled gently. "But all right, I'll ask. Before we went down to the asylum, you said that you've been to a place like that before. When…"

"Oh," Harry was slightly disappointed. A part of him had hoped Hermione was about to ask if he was single. "Right. A few years ago, I went with my friend Neville to an asylum to visit his parents."

"Hus parents?" Hermione blinked. "I'm sorry, you didn’t have to tell me."

"No, it's all right," Harry said quickly. "Neville's not ashamed. His parents been hospitalized since he was a baby."

"That's awful."

"Yeah…" Harry agreed as they kept on walking. "Anyway, I know what these places are like. For hybrids, they can be tough, if they are placed in human-run facilities. These places tend to be the last in line for social progress. You can see it when you go there: hybrids are placed in smaller cells, they're given medicine that don't mix well with their biology and natural behaviours that come from the non-human part of their biology are treated like something unnatural that needs to be fixed. You get my meaning?"

"That's awful," Hermione said sharply.

"Not surpris-"

"Stop!" Hermione yelped suddenly, grabbing Harry and pulling him backwards. Harry frowned as something right in front of him rose into the air, scattering leaves dirt and sticks into the air.

"What the _fuck_ -" Harry moved forward hesitantly, and looked up. A net was hanging on one of the higher branches of the tree in front of them, swinging back and forth. He turned to Harry, "How did you know that was there?"

"I saw the line," Hermione mumbled.

"Perceptive," Harry complimented.

Hermione blushed, "Thanks. You think…that _they_ left it there?"

"If they did, then I'm pretty sure we just walked into a trap," Harry replied.

"Oh, you did."

Harry and Hermione gasped and turned around, coming face to face with a blond, tall man who was giving them an amused smirk.

And that was when they were stunned.

~

_"Have- have you left yet?"_

_"No," He whispers against Albus's ear. "I'm never going to leave."_

_Albus shivers, "You always leave."_

_He laughs softly and snuggles closer to Albus, bare chest against bare chest._

_"But I always come back, don’t I?"_

~

"Don't go!"

The words were forced out of Albus's mouth with a gasp. Still half asleep, he thrusted around in the bed, pushing the sheets off his body. He's drenched in sweat, and it makes him shiver as the cold air hits his exposed skin. He gasped, trying to calm his breathing and sat up, rubbing his face in his palms. His breathing was uneven and his heart was pounding faster than it should.

It took him nearly fifteen minutes to calm his body down, but his mind was still reeling, and he thought about his dream: Grindelwald lying next to him, promising to always return to him. He had the strange sense that he had that dream before. It frightened him that that was what his mind came up with in the middle of the night, that his mind feared Grindelwald leaving him so much.

 _But he already left_ , Albus tried to remind himself. _He left and that was it._

Shivering again, Albus got up from the bed, dressed, and looked at his watch. He had only slept for fifteen minutes. His subconscious must have really wanted to show him that dream to show it so quickly.

Not interested in thinking to much about what his subconscious was trying to tell him, Albus went up to the bridge. It was quiet on the way there, with the majority of crewmembers down on the planet. Minerva was one of those who stayed on the Hogwarts. She nodded at her captain as he came in and Albus found himself relaxing instantly.

"Did you have a good nap, Captain?"

"Quite," Albus murmured, sinking into his chair with a sigh.

"Hmm…" Minerva raised an eyebrow at him. "Listen, Al-"

"Captain," The Communications officer suddenly said. "Ensign Potter is signaling the ship."

Albus frowned. That was odd.

"Put him through."

"Hello, _geliebter_."

Albus froze. His whole body, from the tips of his toes to the hairs on his head, became frozen, immovable ice. The voice washed through him, soothing him and terrifying him at the same time. 

"Al? You can hear me, can’t you? Or has hearing my voice literally rendered you speechless?"

Albus swallowed hard. Minerva moved towards him, hand rising to his shoulder. The touch sent a jolt through Albus and he jumped.

"Perhaps it will help if I stop speaking, _meine liebe_. So, will you say something, _fräulein_?"

There was a few moments of silence before Albus heard Grindelwald sigh. Then there was a sound of a kick and someone groaning in pain. Albus gritted his teeth.

"Don’t be so impolite. Say hello to your Captain."

"He-Hello," Albus's heart sank as he recognized Ensign Granger's voice.

It did what Grindelwald wanted it to do. It caused Albus to open his mouth and speak.

"Ensign, are you hurt?"

"No, Captain."

"Oh," Grindelwald said smugly. "There's someone else here. Say hello, young man."

"Everything is fine here, Captain," Ensign Potter said steadily. It wasn't his first time kidnapped, he knew how to stay calm.

"Hmm, your little soldiers are quite loyal, aren't they? I was expecting you to come down here, I thought you'd want to see me, my darling. Imagine my surprise when these two curious pups showed up at my door. Not that I'm complaining. This should prove just as effective."

"Don’t touch my Ensigns," Albus snapped, fear coursing through his veins.

"Albus," Grindelwald said sharply, causing Albus to lean forward in fear. "You know I don't care about them. I want you. I want you to come down. Alone. And then we can talk about what to do about your _kinder_."

"Captain," Minerva said softly. "You can't-"

"Oh, he very much can," There was a strain in Grindelwald's voice. "And if you try and come in between us I promise you will regret it."

"It's all right, Minerva," Albus said softly and stood up. "You've got the con. I'm beaming down. Send us your coordinates."

"Good boy," Grindelwald said softly, calm once more.

Albus turned to Minerva, who was shaking her head, and said, "I have to."

"But-"

"I have you get our Ensigns back." He wondered if he could convince himself that was the true reason he was going.

Without another word, he left the bridge.


	5. In My Last Defense You Tried To Warn Me

Albus beamed down to the coordinates Grindelwald had fed into the Hogwarts, and found himself materializing in the middle of a forest. Around him were long, thick, green trees and about fifteen pirates holding phasers at him.

"I assume you brought your phaser and communicator?" A woman's voice asked. Albus turned to see a beautiful brown-haired woman glaring at him with a phaser steady trained on him. Like all the men and women around him, the woman was dressed in all black, which caused her deep red lips to stand out even more then they would have. The woman spoke with a French accent and her voice was strangely monotone, as though she were purposely keeping all emotion out of her voice.

"And I assume that you'll want to relieve me of my devices, _Mademoiselle_?" Albus asked calmly.

" _Oui, capitaine_ ," She said, then, added, viciously, " _nous pouvons vous forcer à les remettre_."

" _il n'y aura pas besoin de ça_ ," Albus replied, and when the woman's eyes widened he added, "Safer to assume those around you speak French, don't you think?"

The woman narrowed her eyes at him and said, "I think I might phase you just for that."

"I highly doubt your master would be pleased by that course of action," Albus said, and noted how the woman jerked back. _She's terrified of displeasing him_ , he thought. He knew how she felt. He had felt the same, once.

Albus took out his phaser and communicator and handed it over to the woman. She took them with one hand, handing it to one of the other pirates without taking her eyes off Albus. She then took out a black hood and two ear muffs out of her pocket and threw it to Albus. He caught them quickly.

"Put them on," She woman commanded.

Albus sighed before complying. He had no doubt that Grindelwald was capable of killing his Ensigns if he so chose. It was easier, at least for now, to follow instructions and wait.

Someone came up to Albus and ran something cold against his body, up from his legs to the top of his head. he recognized the feel as a detecting device, used to ensure he wasn't hiding any mechanical devices on his person. He held his breath ever so slightly when the detector brushed against his pockets, but it made no sound. With that finished, someone pushed Albus forward and he began walking.

Without the ability to hear and see, Albus quickly lost his sense of direction as he was herded forward by a hand on his arm. He kept track of time by counting his heartbeats (it was amazing, actually, how clearly he could hear his own heart when it was the _only_ thing he could hear) and so he knew he had walked for only two minutes before feeling the familiar pull of being beamed up, and then he could tell by the hard surface under his feet that he was now onboard some type of spaceship. He was led for another five minutes and then was brought to a stop.

Someone grabbed hold of his hands and pushed them behind his back. He felt something cold and steady pressed onto his back and then his hands were shackled behind him. He ran his hands up and down the cold thing on his back and realized he had been shackled to a poll. He could stand and sit, and move around in a circle, but that was it. The pole was at least taller then his head- he could feel it against his scalp as he stood up straight.

Albus settled down on the floor and tried to get as comfortable as possible with his hands shackled behind him. This was definitely not the first time he had been in this particular position, but he couldn't remember ever being as scared as he was at that moment.

 _He's going to tell you_ , a nasty little voice whispered to him. _Are you ready for that?_

 _This is not helping_ , Albus told himself.

_He's going to tell you who did it._

Albus groaned, and then shivered when he felt fingers grazing his collarbone lightly. He jerked backwards from the touch, and then his hood was pulled off.

Gellert Grindelwald was leaning down next to him, his eyes trained on Albus. Albus blinked a few times to clear his eyes and looked back.

The last time he had seen Grindelwald, they had both been boys, and Albus had never thought of him as a grown-up man. To him he had always remained seventeen, a boy becoming a man. He had not imagined him growing up, over the years.

But here he was, and he was definitely not a boy any longer. He was a man, big and strong. His hair had gotten lighter, his body more muscular. Adulthood suited him. Albus quickly banished the thought.

There was a darkness behind his eyes that wasn't there before. Or perhaps it was, but Albus had never allowed himself to see it. He was not sure which possibly scared him more.

Grindelwald smiled greedily down at Albus, and said something, but Albus couldn't hear what he was saying, and frowned. Realizing this, Grindelwald laughed and plucked the muffs out of Albus's ears.

"Hello, _meine geliebter_ ," Grindelwald murmured, and his voice sent a shiver through Albus.

"Grindelwald," He said sharply.

" _Grindelwald_?" Grindelwald tilted his head slightly, looking amused. "You don’t think we know each other well enough for first names?"

Albus frowned, "Where are my Ensigns?"

That appeared to be the wrong thing to say. Grindelwald's amused smile disappeared and he leaned backwards, deadly and silent. They stared at one another for a few moments, Albus feeling quite unnerved, and then Grindelwald moved forward and grabbed Albus's neck, squeezing hard.

Albus gasped and tried to breath, but Grindelwald was blocking his airway. He chocked, trying to escape Grindelwald's clutch. But he held on tightly.

"Don't talk about them, don't _think_ about them." Grindelwald sneered. "Stop pretending them matter, they don’t matter. We're all that matters. Everyone else is background noise."

As suddenly as his throat had been trapped, it was released. Albus gasped, trying to get air into his strained airways.

"I'm sorry," Grindelwald said softly. Albus looked up to see him looking down at him adoringly. He needed to be careful.

Albus coughed and croaked, "It's my job to make sure the Hogwarts' crew are kept alive. It would be bad for my reputation if something were to happen to them."

Grindelwald grinned, "That was a masterful performance, but you're lying. I can always tell when you're lying, I thought we proved that playing poker."

"I'm-"

"Why do you care what happens to them?" Grindelwald interrupted, sounding genuinely curious.

"Because I'm responsible for them, because it's my job to make sure they're kept safe," Albus replied, truthful this time. "Don't you care about your own crew?"

"No."

Albus sighed deeply. He also could tell when the other was lying. Grindelwald really didn't care.

Grindelwald seated himself down in front of Albus, and his fingers came up to Albus's knee, trailing up slowly. Albus swallowed, trying to ignore the pleasant sensation.

"You care about them, then."

"Yes," Albus said.

Grindelwald looked up, "Al. I've missed you terribly."

Albus felt an uncomfortable nervousness growing in the pit of his stomach.

Grindelwald leaned closer in, trailing his lips against Albus's ear. Albus shivered and tried to pull away, but Grindelwald's hand came up to trap him in place.

"Al, I want you," Grindelwald whispered against his ear.

Albus closed his eyes, "No."

"No?" Grindelwald laughed softly. "Meine liebe, I've had to wait far to long for this. I'm not waiting any longer."

"I said no," Albus said sharply and brought his knee up to Grindelwald's stomach. Grindelwald groaned and stumbled away, letting go of Albus.

Grindelwald placed a hand on his stomach and looked up, his eyes dangerously narrowing.

"I see," He said softly. "You're going to be that way."

Suddenly he rushed forwards again, grabbing Albus's throat. He squeezed, not hard enough to cut Albus's circulation completely, but enough to hurt.

"Listen to me," He whispered viciously into Albus's ears. "You're going to take this like a good boy, or I'll cut one of your ensigns' throats."

Albus's eyes widened, and he tried to shake his head. Grindelwald raised an eyebrow and released Albus's throat.

"Something you'd like to say, schatz?"

"Don’t-don’t touch them," Albus gasped.

Grindelwald smiled, "Then you'll be good?"

Albus glared, "That's not a real choice, Grindelwald."

"It's the best you're getting," Grindelwald replied in a monotone voice.

Albus closed his eyes. He didn’t want to see his former lover's pleased face. He knew what was going to happen now.

"All right," He said quietly.

"You agree?" He could hear the grin in Grindelwald's voice.

"I agree," Albus said, defeated. he wondered if it made Grindelwald feel better, to have him agree to his own rape.

He felt Grindelwald's arms against him. He shivered as arms came down to his legs and slipped his pants off him. Grindelwald sighed heavily, and Albus could feel his breath on his neck. Then he felt his underwear being taken off and instinctively moved to close his legs.

"No, Al," Grindelwald whispered and took hold of his knees, pushing his legs apart. "Let me see you."

Albus gasped as he felt a hand trailing from his knee down his thighs and resting on his cock. He groaned as Grindelwald began caressing him, up and down, and tried to think of anything, anything other than this-

"And you said you didn’t want it," Grindelwald didn’t sound amused anymore. He sounded aroused. Albus squirmed at the sound. He was getting hotter and hotter as he grew hard, and his breathing became uneven. He wanted to come, he wanted to come so much…

"Shh, it's all right, Al. Come for me, good boy…"

Albus came, his body rocking from the power of his climax. He groaned, feeling boneless and powerless, and slacked against the pole. Arms came around him and held him close, and Grindelwald whispered comforting nothings into his ear. Albus allowed himself to be cuddled and fussed over.

"Did that feel good?" Grindelwald whispered into his ear, caressing Albus's chest.

Not seeing the point of lying, Albus gasped, "Yes."

Grindelwald hummed and satisfaction, and Albus added, "That doesn't mean I want more."

"Does it make you feel better, to fight me? I don't mind it, if it does. I'm just finding it somewhat… Confusing."

Albus didn't dignify that with a response, still keeping his eyes firmly shut. After a moment Grindelwald sighed and moved away, leaving Albus's body to slack down onto the floor. He heard Grindelwald move, and then his hands were uncuffed. Albus opened his eyes and moved his hands forward, rubbing them. He looked up and saw Grindelwald walking towards him with the cuffs.

"Hands out, Albus, please."

Albus frowned, and Grindelwald said, "Hands out or I'll remove the eyeballs of that pretty little girl and feed them to the boy."

Albus immediately raised his arms.

"Wise decision," Grindelwald said softly and put the cuffs back on. Then he put his hands on Albus's shoulders and pushed him to the floor, and Albus suddenly realized that Grindelwald was much stronger then he was. It was an unnerving discovery.

Albus looked up and saw Grindelwald take a bottle out of his pocket. He groaned and whispered, "Please don’t-"

"Shh," Grindelwald murmured as he lubed his hand and moved in closer to Albus.

"Don't-" Albus gasped as a lubed finger was gently slipped into him. He shivered, more and more violently as another finger came in.

Albus placed his hand into his mouth to stop himself from crying out in pleasure, and bit hard enough to bleed. He felt the taste of his bitter blood on his tongue, but it wasn't enough to distract himself from the fact that his cock was twitching again.

He gasped as he was open up wider, and then he felt Grindelwald's cock brushing against the inside of his thigh. Albus groaned loudly as he was entered.

"Albus…You're…So tight…" Grindelwald gasped. "Did you…wait for me to?"

Albus knew exactly what he was asking, and groaned, "No."

"No?" Grindelwald's voice became strained. "Women…Don’t count."

Albus bit harder into his mouth. In that case, he had.

"Al, open…. Open your eyes," Grindelwald growled. Albus obeyed without thought. Grindelwald smiled at him, eyes full with lust. Albus stared _._

He felt sick.

Albus gasped as Grindelwald came inside him, and Grindelwald sighed contently, hand coming up to caress Albus's forehead. Albus let himself move into the touch.

Albus went slack as Grindelwald eased out of him. He curled into himself as Grindelwald moved towards him, placing a gentle hand under his waist and lifting him up. Albus allowed himself to be moved so his head was on Grindelwald's lap. He closed his eyes as Grindelwald began caressing his hair.

"Are you all right, _meine liebe_?" Grindelwald asked softly. Albus looked up and was shocked to see Grindelwald was crying. He was looking down at him with love and awe. Albus shivered. _Oh God_ , he thought. _I still love him_.

It made him almost paralyzed with fear.

"Al, love, what's wrong?" Grindelwald whispered. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

The question was so ridiculous Albus didn’t bother to answer. Instead he murmured, "Will you let me see my ensigns?"

Grindelwald tensed, but kept caressing Albus's hair, "And why would I do that?"

"Because I'm asking you to," Albus said, and grabbed Grindelwald's hand, clutching it in his own. "Because you love me and you want me to be happy."

Grindelwald looked down at their intertwined fingers and sighed deeply, "Very well. I'll bring them. But if you try anything, I'll have them both killed."

Albus swallowed, "Understood."

~

_He's standing next to the open grave. The casket is being lowered in slowly, his baby sister being put into the ground._

_He glances at Aberforth, but that was a mistake. Aberforth is looking at him,_ glaring _at him, with so much hatred and disgust. But of course, Albus knows that he deserves it. He wants Aberforth's hatred. He's not worthy of his brother's love anymore. Perhaps he never was. He turns back to the casket, and wipes his eyes._

_Aberforth is not crying. He's staring at his older brother. Albus can feel Aberforth's hard gaze on him, and then he turns as Aberforth approaches._

_"Abe-"_

_Aberforth's fist comes up, and before Albus realizes what is happening, there's a white-hot pain blinding him and falls to the ground, clutching his suddenly bleeding face. He groans._

_Someone is grabbing Aberforth and pulling him away. As he's pushed away from the gravesite he cries to his brother, "This is your fault! She's dead because of you! She's dead because of you!"_

I know! _Albus screams in his mind._ I know, I'm so sorry. I know.

_But a sorry is not enough. It will never be enough._

~

"I can't believe this is happening," Hermione whispered- or rather, if she were fully honest with herself- _whimpered_. "I can't believe this."

"Hmm," Was Harry's eloquent response. He was tapping the walls with his fingers, clearly looking for some weakness in the black metals. They had woken up in this small cell, alone, stripped of their phasers and all communicators. The cell was entirely bare, with the only light coming from the slightly glowing steel walls. Hermione recognized it as one of the strongest metals in the galaxy. And there was no door.

"You’re wasting your time," Hermione said sharply. "You won’t find any weak point."

"I'm not expecting to," Harry said without turning. "I'm looking for a secret door. They had to get us _in_ here somehow."

Oh.

"That's a good idea, I'll help you," Hermione said with conviction and moved to do just that. "Tell me, are you really as calm as you look or is it an act?"

Harry let out a bark-like laugh, "An act. Kinda. I've been in this situation before, I know how to tone out my emotions. If I were to engage them, I'd probably freak the fuck out. You?"

"I'm scared," Hermione admitted easily. "We could die…We could be _kicked out_ of Starfleet."

Harry laughed again, "Those are your priorities?" He spared her a glance and bit his lip, fingers stopping their rapid movement. "Oh, shit. Those _are_ your priorities. You might want to rethink that."

Hermione shrugged, "' I would rather die a meaningful death than to live a meaningless life'."

"Huh?"

"It's a quote, by Corazon Aquino."

"Never heard of him," Harry said. "But I understand what you're trying to say. You know, there are other ways to have a meaningful life, outside of Starfleet."

Hermione laughed bitterly, "Now you sound like my parents."

"They didn't want you to join Starfleet?"

"It's not that…" Hermione bit her lip, trying to find a way to explain her parents. "They just never understood, why I _had_ to do this. They're planet-bound people, and for them their planet is enough. Even after the massacre, they never considered leaving Tarsus."

Harry glanced at her again, and, not wanting to discuss the massacre, she added hastily, "What about your parents?"

"By the time I joined the Academy, both were dead."

"Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry-"

"It's fine, Hermione. Really," Harry said, giving her an encouraging smile before going back to tapping the wall. "My guardians, they were very proud when I joined Starfleet,"

"Must be nice," Hermione sighed. "To have that support."

"Yeah," Harry grinned. "If they knew about this, though…Oh, they'd be _pissed_."

"Well, that makes sense," Hermione nodded. "We've broken about twenty Starfleet rules-"

"Oh, no. They'd be mad I got caught. Especially Remus, he'd be disappointed I didn’t plan it better."

"Really?" Hermione was startled. "Seriously?"

"Really seriously. In their time my dad and his friends were known as quite the pranksters. They appreciate a good rule breaking. When you were in the Academy, I'm sure you heard of the Marauders?"

"The _Marauders_?" Hermione gasped. "The ones who put squids in the training pools? Who glued Admiral Blount to his bed? Who programmed the navigation class's training computers to yell insults at their users Those _Marauders_?"

"Those are the ones."

"I can't believe it," Hermione really, really couldn’t. "The coding on the computers is legendary. It took five experts seven days to reverse it and it _still_ spit out insults once in a while. I was asked to take a look at it in my last year."

"Did you fix it? That will disappoint Sirius."

"I couldn’t. I mean, I _could_ , but it was just…." Hermione waved her hands in frustration. "It was such a _magnificent_ piece of coding, I couldn’t bring myself to destroy it. I know it was wrong, but…"

Harry looked amused, "I'll tell Remus. He's the one that made the code, he'll be pleased you liked it."

"Oh," Hermione's eyes widened and she grabbed Harry's arm, "Harry, you have to introduce me to him-"

She stopped, suddenly, because Harry was looking at her with so much focoused intensity it made her swallow, and she held her breath, hoping, hoping he would-

"Hermione," Harry said quietly, entirely in control. "Is it all right if I kiss you?"

How she did, Hermione would never know. Maybe it was his gentleman-like question, or maybe she had just been waiting for an opportunity. She didn’t know. All she knew was that as soon as Harry asked his question, Hermione threw her arms around Harry's shoulders and kissed him.

She could feel Harry growing still against her as he opened his mouth for her, and then his strong arms were lifting her up, and she curled her legs around his waist as his hands held her in place.

His mouth was warm against hers, and they fit together perfectly. Hermione leaned in closer, kissing him deeper and deeper, tasting him with her tongue, running her hands through his black, messy hair.

The broke for breath and Harry looked at her with a strange kind of awe. She had never been looked at like that, like she was something unique, one of a kind. And, God, he was beautiful, and she felt so safe and _right_ being held by him.

"I liked that you asked," Hermione said with a soft smile. "But next time, just kiss me."

Harry grinned and then someone said, "Aww, young life. Isn’t this sweet?"

Hermione froze and turned her head. Behind them was standing a brown-haired woman who had a cruel smile on her face and a phaser trained right at them. Behind her were two other men, holding phasers as well.

The hidden door, it seemed, was behind them.

"Come on, love birds," The woman said, waving her phaser. "Your _Capitaine_ is waiting to see you."

~

Harry didn’t object when he and Hermione had ear muffs put in their ears and a hood pulled over their heads. There was nothing they could do with three phasers set on them, and Harry didn't want to jeopardize their chance to see the Captain, so he motioned to Hermione not to fight as well, and allowed himself to be led out of the cell, unable to see or hear anything. They walked for a while before the man holding Harry let go. He waited a moment and then took the hood and ear muffs off.

The first thing he saw was the captain. He was tied to a pole with his arms behind his back, and his hair was tussled. But other then that he looked fine. He turned towards them and sighed, sounding relieved to see them.

"Granger, Potter," He said calmly. "Are you hurt?"

"No, Captain," Harry replied. Hermione rushed over and looked down at the cuffs. The captain glanced at her and smiled.

"Don’t worry about that, Ensign. We have more important things to talk about. Come here, you two."

Harry and Hermione obeyed immediately, sitting down next to the Captain. He looked between the two of them, and Harry said quietly, "I'm sorry. We shouldn’t have gone by ourselves."

"No, you really shouldn’t have," Captain Dumbledore said, but he sounded slightly amused, as he usually did when Harry did similar things. "You should have told me immediately when you found the hacked computers in the asylum. Don’t look so shocked, Granger, I know how this man works."

Harry saw Hermione swallow and she asked, "You knew he did that?"

"I did, and I ignored it. Because I assumed it was a trap," The Captain said with a sigh, "But it's not only your fault. I shouldn't have kept this from the crew, I should have told you. then you wouldn't have tracked him. But really, didn’t you realize it was a trap when you saw they were on the planet were we taking our shore leave on?"

"We did. We thought it was a trap for you, and we could-"

"Protect me?"

Harry nodded.

The Captain smiled and said gently, "But it's _my_ job to protect _you_ , Ensign. Not the other way around."

Harry shrugged, "Maybe, but I wanted to."

Captain Dumbledore let out a soft laugh and then sobered up, and said, eyes hardening, "I need you two to listen to me now. You are our best chance to get out of here. He will underestimate you, and you will use that."

Harry nodded as Hermione asked, her voice calm, "What do you want us to do?"

"You need to escape your captures, get a phaser and come here to release me. Potter, do you think you can trace back to the cell you're kept in, from here?"

Harry thought about if, "I can count steps. I think I can do it."

"Very good. Once we're all free, we'll get to the control room. Granger, you'll take over command of the ship."

Hermione grew white, "I don't know if I can do that."

Harry placed a hand on her shoulder and said, softly, "You absolutely can."

Hermione turned to him, and gave him a small smile that made Harry incredibly warm. He turned away from her before his face grew red, and turned back to the Captain.

"I agree with Potter, though I doubt my encouragement will be half as effective as his," The Captain said with a grin, and Harry wondered what he had done to deserve this humiliation. "Can one of you reach to my pocket? There should something useful in there."

Harry reached into the Captain's pocket and felt around. His hand came upon a cold metal and he took out the small, silver ball. Harry lay it on his palm and blinked at it. It was about the size of a marble and looked completely innocuous.

"What is this?" He asked.

"A tracker," The Captain replied. "It's a special device, made specifically to avoid detection. It's a prototype, not out for Starfleet use yet, so no one could have had the time to find a way to detect it. Quite useful. It's been on since I beamed down from the Hogwarts. We don’t want it found, so it's safer if you keep it on you for now."

"Why?" Harry asked, puzzled. But the Captain gave him a hard look that made Harry look down and regret his question.

"The Hogwarts will be coming for us, but I would prefer if the two of you operate under the assumption that we have to get ourselves out of here. Don’t rely on outside assessment, and you will function closer to maximum capacity," The Captain said. "Now, do you have a way to escape your cell?"

"There's a hidden door. I think we can figure it out," Harry replied, his mind already working on the problem.

"Right, good," The Captain said, sounding quite pleased with his Ensigns.

There was a moment of silence and then Hermione said, quietly, "Will you tell us, Captain?"

Captain Dumbledore frowned at her, "Tell you what, Ensign?"

"Tell us…About Grindelwald," Hermione answered. The Captain blinked at her and she added, "You want us to operate with maximus efficiency. We'll need all available information for that."

For a moment, Captain Dumbledore kept on looking at Hermione, then he sighed, "All right. I'll tell you."


	6. The Life And Lied of Albus Dumbledore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: mentions of suicide, self harm and implied past child abuse. Nothing graphic, but it's there.

_Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore first realized he was different from those around him when he was twenty-three months old. And no, it wasn't because of his ridiculous name. It was the first day of daycare, and when he got there, he watched in surprise as his teacher blanched at him when he opened his mouth and asked her, "Miss, do you have any books?"_

_He was taken into the room, and saw the rest of the children. He tried to talk to them, but couldn't understand most of what they were saying, and what he could understand was not worth answering. 'I have a ball', 'I like monkey', and things like that. He had complained to his father that the other children were ridiculously stupid- but his father had laughed and said, "No. They're normal. You're just special."_

_Special. He didn’t feel special. He felt lonely. During his early childhood, he was constantly lonely. Albus spent most of childhood alone, reading and studying. Once in a while he would join Ariana and Aberforth in their games, but he never felt welcome with them. Ariana and Aberforth were a team of their own, a unit inside the larger family one, and there was no room for Albus there. Albus was a unit with his father. Percival was the only one who knew how to speak to the strange little boy, and he would bring him home scientific journals from the university where he was a professor._

_His early childhood passed this way. He never considered himself unhappy, but could not truly say he was happy, either. Until, at the age of six, he first went to school. Albus was sent to a school for gifted children, and though none of them were quite as intelligent, they at least did not view him as a freak for his intelligence. For the first time, Albus's intellectual prowess was viewed as a good thing. He made friends, he was happy._

_And then it happened. When Albus was nine, Ariana, who was seven, went by herself to the park. She returned, beaten to a pulp, with blood running down her legs. Albus had been the first to find her. He had wrapped her in his arms, and she leaned into him, completely confident in her older brother's ability to protect her._

_But he couldn't, not really. Two days afterwards, Percival beat the three hybrid teens who had destroyed Ariana to death, and was taken away. That was when Ariana had begun to display episodes of explosive anger, where she would attack all those around her. The girl's mother had decided then and there that she would not allow her daughter to be raised in an asylum, where she surely would have been placed had her condition been discovered. So instead of getting Ariana any help, she uprooted the family and took them to a small town far from London, far from Albus's school and friends._

_He was lonelier then he had ever been. His father was gone, his mother was engrossed entirely in Ariana, his sister was no longer herself, and Aberforth was slowly pulling into himself and refusing to let anyone in._

_Three awful years passed in the cold house, where no one spoke to each other, and Ariana was the prime focus. At the age of twelve, Albus was expected into a Starfleet program for children. He said his goodbyes to his mother and siblings, and left for San Francisco, never looking back._

_The Starfleet Academy was better than anything Albus had ever imagined. For the first time in his life he was challenged, and he even had intellectual equals. Or, rather, one._

_Gellert Grindelwald came from Austria and did not speak a word in English when he arrived in San Francisco. It took him about two weeks to become fluent in the language, and about the same time to assert himself as the leader in their age group. He was brilliant, intense and entirely unique. It wasn't just his intelligence that made him special. There was something about him that drew people like moths to a flame. He could be kind and considerate when he wanted to, able to always tell what was happening in others' minds and mold his behaviour to suit their needs. His smile lit up rooms and his frown darkened them. Those around him would fall on top of each other in an attempt to keep his smile going._

_Albus was no different. And he allowed himself to be drawn in and entirely consumed by the other boy. They spent the four years of the Academy entirely inseparable, always together and always talking. They could talk for hours, about science and philosophy and literature. They would speak to one another all day, and then at night would think of something else they wanted to say, and would send each other messages on their communicators. In the holidays, when Albus went home, they would message constantly, to the point that Albus ignored his family entirely on those rare chances he had of seeing them._

_Albus loved Grindelwald. Loved him in the way he had never truly loved his brother and sister. Loved him the way you could only love your equal. Loved him so much he ignored some things that he should not have ignored._

_The first sign came when they were thirteen. Grindelwald was called to Admiral Jennings office. His instructors had gently told him that the 'experiments' he was preforming on Sehlats brought to Earth from Vulcan. The instructors had seemed to view his actions as products of simple curiosity, a misguided attempt to learn that could be easily corrected. Grindelwald had allowed them to believe this. Albus would have known better, if he had bothered to think about it. But Grindelwald had returned to their room with books from the library, and it was easier to just allow Grindelwald to distract him with intellectual curiosity._

_The next clear sign had come when they were fourteen. It was Christmas, and Albus had invited Grindelwald to come with him home. It was the first and only time that happened- Kendra did not approve of her son's friends. Sitting in his bed, the two were going over the designs for a new phaser prototype they were working on. Suddenly there was a scream and the sound of something being thrown on the floor and shattering. Albus grimaced and Grindelwald murmured, "Someone should put her down."_

_But it was so quiet, nearly a whisper, that Albus could easily pretend that he had imagined the horrific statement. So he went back to explaining to Grindelwald why his calculations were slightly off._

_The third and greatest sign came during their last year. They were sixteen, nearly men in size, and Grindelwald's strange charm had only grown as he had. The young, immature and frightened new students, only twelve years old, were easy to lead. And Grindelwald led them. They became a little army, beholden to their leader and no one else. They became disruptive in classes, going out on night and stealing from other students. But none of the stolen objects were ever found._

_One of those little girls was one Minerva McGonagall. An intelligent, serious little girl, she had fallen for Grindelwald as easily as everyone else. But she was the only one who had fallen out of with him. She could never be quite sure, afterwards, what had caused her to realize the kind of person she was associating with._

_She thought that perhaps what had done it had been the time she had come to his dorm and found him looking out the window. Thinking he was alone, Grindelwald's mask had finally come down. There was such loathing in his eyes, loathing that caused Minerva to put a hand on her mouth, stifling her tears. She had never seen something so horrific. How could anyone hate the world so deeply?_

_The next time she was asked by one of the 'army' to steal something, Minerva said no. Grindelwald never spoke to about it._

_Two months later, both he and Albus were posted on the Godric's Hollow, two of the youngest Ensigns in the history of Starfleet. Albus was in cloud nine. The day they shipped off, three cadets attacked Cadet McGonagall, trying to stab her with knives stolen from the dining halls. They missed, and were quickly restrained by instructors, who had responded to the child's horrified shrieks. All three cadets were kicked out of Starfleet. Of course, all three refused to explain their behaviour._

_A little while later, one student found an enormous pile of goods, all reported stolen over the past year, lying on the ground in the boys' dorms._

_The Godric's Hollow was captained by Bathilda Bagshot, a seasoned Captain who had been in the position for nearly fifteen years and had refused more then one opportunity for advancement in favour of staying with her crew and ship. A competent commander, she did not lose her cool, not ever, not even during the massacre._

_The Godric's Hollow was one of the first ships to get to Tarsus IV with supplies. When they got there, they found that Governor Kodos had murdered four thousand of the colony's inhabitants, leaving the other four thousand scarred for life. Captain Bagshot had sent some of her crew, including Grindelwald and Albus, to care of the children while the adults were being interviewed. The children, all crowded into one space, were crying, terrified and confused. Their pain had radiated off them, attacking Albus from all sides. So much pain, and he knew there was nothing he could do for them. This was not a pain that could be erased by him._

_The helplessness had been overwhelming, and he had gasped, once, before running out of the house. He leaned against the wall, breathing heavily, eyes closed, before a hand came down and caressed his hair. Albus looked up and saw Grindelwald, his eyes shining, cold and beautiful and entirely unrecognizable from how he looked normally. Albus couldn’t look away._

_"The strong live, and the weak are put down," He said, eyes gleaming. "Don't you agree, Al?"_

_"What?" Albus frowned. And that was the fourth sign._

_Grindelwald looked down at him and engulfed him in a strong hug, and Albus ignored yet another sign._

_That night, as they played chess on the Godric's Hollow, Grindelwald looked at Albus, and finally realized something that should have been quite obvious for months. Grindelwald had allowed one thing to escape his notice, or perhaps two things: Albus's heart and his own._

_Grindelwald took Albus that night, and as he came in him, for the first time in his life, he had whispered, "geliebter."_

_Beloved._

_During the next five months, Albus and Grindelwald became even more inseparable, and the world began to feel to them like a background drop to their great love. This was not the first time Albus had loved someone, he had loved his mother and father, sister and brother. But he had never loved someone as deeply, as passionately, as fully as he loved Grindelwald._

_For Grindelwald, however, it was the first time he had ever loved someone. It also appeared to have been the only time. And his love was destructive obsessive, possessive.  He would watch Albus as he slept for hours, he would snap at anyone who spoke to him and would grow mad whenever Albus paid attention to others. And when he got mad, he would grab Albus's wrist, hard enough to bruise, and would only relax when Albus whispered, "It's all right. I'm your, I'm yours."_

_As part of their fast process of turning from two being into one, they created a secret language. A secret language written in simple shapes folded into one another. One shape in particular became Grindelwald's favourite. A triangle, with a circle and line inside it. It meant 'beloved'._

_Grindelwald liked to draw the symbol on Albus's arm. Albus liked to have it there, a reminder. A reminder that there was one person in the world that loved him more then he loved anything else. His father had often told him that he was special, but Albus had never truly felt special, not until Grindelwald's love._

_It was simple, beautiful and sweet-or at least it had appeared so. And it had fallen apart so quickly. One line, spoken to him by the captain, "It appears that your mother fell down some stairs and broke her neck."_

_Ariana. Ariana had taken his father from him, and now she was taking his beloved as well._

_Being back at the Dumbledore house was like stepping from Heaven into Hell. Aberforth, now sixteen, was a strongly built, tall boy with an obsession with the neighbours goat herds. According to said neighbor, Aberforth had a real knack with the animals. Albus was glad, because as far as he could see that was the only talent his brother possessed._

_And Ariana… Ariana was worse then Albus had ever seen her. The ferocious attacks were still present, coming usually once a day and lasing up to an hour. But she had also developed, in her teen years, a crippling low sense of self-worth and had began to believe that her mere existence was nothing but a burden holding her family back. It had gotten worse after she had thrown her mother down a flight of stairs that had broken her neck._

_About once a day, Ariana would attempt to end her own life. Albus had thought he had felt as horrific as he could on Tarsus. But that was nothing compared to seeing his baby sister try to wipe herself from the land of the living. The pain in her eyes tore him apart every day, and he could not understand how Aberforth could have lived like this for years._

_But he did. The large boy was gentle with his sister, coaxing her into calmness and never tiring of getting up in the middle of the night to respond to the smallest whimper from her. He made sure all the knives were always locked and kept far from Ariana, kept an eye on their sister day and night, ignoring his own needs in the process. More than once, Albus caught his brother falling asleep while eating or reading._

_"You need to rest," Albus told him once, sharply. "Worry about your own health, Abe. Please."_

_"I would," Aberforth growled. "If I trusted you to watch her."_

_Albus bit his lip, but couldn’t respond. A few days after that, Albus found Ariana in the bathroom, holding a small knife. Afterwards, Aberforth had blamed Albus for leaving the knife out, forgetting to lock it away. Had he? Albus was not sure. It was that uncertainty that killed him._

_Grindelwald had shown up the next day._

_Immediately, Aberforth had hated him. All the signs that Albus had ignored, his younger brother picked up on in less then a second. He had asked Albus not to let Grindelwald stay, but the elder brother, used to ignoring the younger, had barely dignified that with a response. He should have listened, but one thing he had never learned throughout his life was to respect the emotionally intelligent._

_After Grindelwald showed up, things began to escalate quickly. Ariana found her way to move knives, more scissors and peelers. Albus was never quite sure if he had been the one to leave them out. He was so engrossed in Grindelwald it was hard to remember. Everything else seemed like a blur._

_Two days after coming, Grindelwald had woken Albus in the middle of the night and said to him, "Al, have you ever read A True Human?"_

_"By Tom Riddle?" Albus frowned. "Yes."_

_Grindelwald had grinned, a cruel delight clearly visible in his eyes, and whispered, "I think he's got a few good points."_

_That was how it begun._

_Grindelwald gave Albus books written by blood supremacists, refused to discuss anything but the new philosophy, showed him the medical 'proof' that the mudbloods were 'inferior' to true humans. It was all ridiculous sudo-science, a philosophy created by an elite class to justify subjugating others. Humanity had seen more then it's fair share of similar philosophies, and they were all created for that same purpose. But of course, Albus was not thinking quite as rationally as he should have been._

_He fell for it, hook line and sinker. He and Grindelwald were to be gods in a new world, kings ruling humanity. They were purebloods, both of them, and superior to other humans by virtue of their unique minds._

_Aberforth knew there was something going on with his brother. He watched with narrow eyes and open ears, ready to attack._

_Two months passed like this, tense and ready to compost. It finally exploded one Friday night, when Aberforth returned home with Ariana, who he had taken out for a walk, and heard Albus and Grindelwald discuss their plans to leave, to begin recruiting the army they would need to begin their revolution. Frowning, he waited until Ariana fell asleep, and then confronted his brother and his brother's lover._

_"You can't leave," He snapped. "So stop pretending, Ariana could never go with you, and you can't leave her!"_

_Grindelwald grinded his teeth together and stood up from his chair. Albus, suddenly frightened of his lover, grabbed his hand and pulled him back. Grindelwald turned, and saw the fear in Albus's eyes._

_The look of betrayal on his face broke Albus's heart. But as he looked at Grindelwald, he suddenly saw it. Laid bare on his face, exposed to all to see for the first time. The cruelty, the sadistic nature that found enjoyment from others' pain, it was all there. Surprise at Albus's reaction to him had forced Grindelwald's mask off._

_Grindelwald shoved past Albus and Aberforth and disappeared into the guest room. Aberforth appeared stunned by Grindelwald's sudden departure. He looked at his brother and said, "He has to leave."_

_Albus nodded, "He'll…He'll leave tomorrow."_

_The next morning, Albus went to the guest room, preparing himself to tell his lover that he had to leave. But he lost his nerve at the last second and instead rushed downstairs to the kitchen._

_Someone had forgotten to lock the knives against the night before. And this time, Ariana lay on the floor._

_Death was death. It's horrific whenever you see it, no matter the circumstances. But the death of a loved one is something different, and the death of a loved one you were meant to protect is, in Albus's opinion, the worst kind of death to see._

_He had no words to describe what he had felt that day, what he had seen. He would not even try. Some things were beyond words, being descriptions._

_Grindelwald was gone by the time Aberforth crashed into the guest room, and the next day he resigned from Starfleet. The day after the funeral, his nose broken, Albus left his family home for the last time. He never returned, raising quickly in Starfleet ranks, until he had his own ship at twenty-seven. Aberforth stayed and opened a bar. Once a week he would go up to the two graves to lay flowers. Once every few months Albus would call him, and they would talk for a few, tense minutes before hanging up. They met a few times, in London. Aberforth would never go to London to see his brother, but Albus made sure to be there whenever he knew Aberforth was due there as well._

_Over the years Albus thought often of Grindelwald. He consumed his dreams, he crept into his mind anytime he tried to love anyone else. He tainted any memories he had of his sister, forcing him to remember his greatest shame over and over again anytime Ariana came to his mind._

_Because he knew that Ariana's death was his fault, and only his. Even if he hadn't been the one to leave the knife out,  he had brought the man who had into her life. Because it had to be one of them. Aberforth never forgot._

_He was the much better man._


	7. You Were A Demon To Me

As the Captain finished his story, there was a stunned silence in the cell. Hermione felt Harry's presence, stilled and controlled beside her. It had felt like eternity for her, but she guessed that they had actually been sitting there for about two hours. A man's life, in two hours.

Harry breathed in deeply and croaked out, "All…All right. Now we know everything."

The Captain leaned his head against the pole and sighed heavily, "Now you know everything."

"This man is truly as smart as you are, Captain?" Hermione asked quietly.

"Yes," The Captain replied, and Hermione's heart skipped a beat. That was a terrifying thought. "So-"

"That's enough, you three," A silky accented voice called out. Hermione and Harry whirled around to see Gellert Grindelwald. He grinned at the Captain, but there was no amusement in his eyes. "I think you've had enough time. We'll be taking the _kinder_ now, if you don’t mind."

The Captain didn't respond, instead giving Harry and Hermione a steady nod. Hermione took the hint and stood up, allowing herself to be blindfolded again by the pirates who came into the cell after Grindelwald. She spent the walk back trying very hard not to think about what the Captain had told them, and failing utterly.

 _He brought death into his own house_ , she thought.

But she couldn't bring herself to blame the Captain entirely. It was impossible, with the clear pain in his eyes. He was already punishing himself enough, and Hermione's instinct was always to protect those who were hurt, even if they deserved their pain.

Before she had time to give it more thought she was shoved forward and heard the unmistakable sound of a heavy metal door being closed behind her. Immediately she tore the blindfold and ear muffs off and turned to Harry, who was doing the same and rushing over to the wall in front of them.

"The door is here, somewhere," He snapped, his voice tense. Hermione nodded wordlessly and joined him, running her fingers on the wall. She looked at Harry. His eyes, which had been so full of love before, were instead clouded with rage.

"Harry-"

"Not now."

Hermione frowned. She had not expected this dismissal. Suddenly she realized that Harry's fingers were shaking slightly.

"Harry, listen to me," She whispered urgently. "Just listen to me, please. He was a child, he was young. He made a mistake, a horrible mistake-"

"He was seventeen," Harry snapped. "You're only five years older. And look at what you're doing."

Anger flared up inside Hermione, "Stop it! You want to be childish, fine. But I'm not going to allow _his_ past to influence _my_ decisions in the present-"

"I'm not allowing anything to influence my decisions, I'm doing what he told me. That doesn't mean I have to lik-" He stopped. "I found it."

"You found it?" Hermione's eyes widened. She put her fingers next to Harry's and felt it: a crack in the perfectly uniform wall.

"Hermione, could you place your finger here, so I don’t lose the spot? Good."

Hermione watched as Harry leaned down on the floor.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Looking- ah, here," Harry grinned and placed his finger into the wall. Hermione watched in shock as it moved under his touch. "I know this type of door. It's not made of one type of metal- that would be far to heavy and this door is opened by hand. Classic, no? See, they make the lower part of the door from a bendable metal that can move when the door opens and closes."

 "I'm not sure if I should ask how you know that," Hermione smiled to herself.

"From similar circumstances to this," Harry replied and retrieved his hand. As he did, a ray of light entered the cell. She leaned down to look at the opening in the hidden he had somehow created.

Harry grinned and raised his hand. Hermione blinked down at the piece of silver metal in Harry's hands.

"Oh," Hermione nodded slowly. "Brilliant. You can make a weapon out of it."

"Thank you, Hermione," Harry blinked up at her, growing red. "Um…We're going to use it to get the door open."

He began kneading the metal between his hands, rolling it into a thin, long stick. It looked like the metal equivalent of a magician's wand. Harry stood up, when back to where Hermione was keeping her fingers, and began jamming the stick-wand-thing in, moving it around with a frown until the door let out a groan and popped open.

Hermione hid her eyes behind her hand, the sudden influx of light blaring into her. She blinked a few times and lowered her hand.

They left the cell and entered a short corridor, with walls made of the same metal as their cell wells. There were a few more doors, clear to see by the handle on each of them. Hermione moved to quickly open them all, but they were the only prisoners, it seemed. All the cells were empty.

"Come on," Harry whispered to her, tapping her shoulder. They moved slowly around the corner, Hermione first. She looked around the corner, and immediately moved back and pushed Harry into the wall.

 "Two guards," She murmured into his ear. "Coming towards us."

Harry nodded, "I'll go first. You take the second."

Hermione nodded and switched places with Harry. They waited with baited breath for a moment before the two guards appeared behind the corner. Before they had time to see the two escapees, Harry pulled his knee up, driving it into one of the guard's belly. As the guard groaned in pain and his companion looked in shock, Hermione used Harry's body as momentum to push herself up into the air, and hit the second guard with an exact punch into his cheek. He was forced off his feet by the sheer force of the hit, and Hermione landed on him, bringing her elbows into his chest. He gasped for air, and she punched him again, causing him to cough out blood. She reached for his waist and took out his phaser. She set it to stun and hit him square in his chest in the blink of an eye.

Hermione turned to look at Harry, who had just dispatched of his own advisory. He was looking at her with wide eyes, and Hermione wondered if she had ever met a man who was quite as turned on by battle prowess as this one was.

"It's good to see my training works," Hermione grinned as she began undressing the guard, taking off his black coat and putting it on herself. It felt rough and uncomfortable on her skin.

"I’d say," Harry shook his head, doing the same. He buttoned up his coat and grimaced, "Not very comfortable, is it?"

"Grindelwald doesn’t want his men to be comfortable," Hermione replied, realizing the truth of her words as she said them. "He wants them to always be on their toes."

"Makes sense, I suppose," Harry mused. "Cold, though."

Hermione nodded, thinking that that was a wonderful way to summarize Grindelwald. Everything he did made sense, when you understood what it was that he was after. But he was cold. So, so very cold.

And he had their Captain.

"You know how to get to where the Captain is kept, right?" Hermione asked.

Harry nodded, and there was a fierceness in his eyes as he said, "Let's go get our Captain, shall we?"

If they weren't on a timetable, Hermione would have kissed him again.

~

Harry took Hermione directly to where the Captain was being kept, striding with purpose. He had learned a long time ago that if you projected enough confidence, people just tended to assume that you were in the right. Most people would not spare a single glance to a man who walked as though he had every right to be where he was. It had always worked for him, and did not disappoint this time, either.

No one paid any attention to Hermione and him. She, for her part, was striding with so much confidence Harry almost grinned. When you to got her going, Hermione was a wonderful actress.

They got to where Harry guessed the Captain's cell was. It was quite clear which of the few doors on the corridor they were on was the Captain's: there were five men guarding it. Harry hid behind a wall with Hermione and looked at the guards. The door suddenly opened and Grindelwald walked out, striding away so quickly Harry could not see his expression. His body was tense, however. Harry waited until he could no longer the stomp of Grindelwald's heavy boots, and turned to Hermione. She seemed to have been thinking the same thing, as they both nodded to each other at the same time and attacked.

Harry let out three shots, Hermione let out two. Five guards fell on the ground with a _thud_. Hermione rushed forward first and opened the door. The two went in, and Harry froze at the sight of his Captain.

~

As the Ensigns were led out of the room, Albus saw Grindelwald follow them with his eyes. A fierce sense of protectiveness, primal and raw, washed over him as he watched. _Don’t you dare_ , he thought. _Don't you dare touch my people._

"They’re smart, those two," Grindelwald said as he settled down in front of Albus. "Have to be, to track me."

"You _let_ them track you," Albus replied curtly. "That was the whole point of Queenie, wasn’t it?"

Grindelwald shrugged, "Yes. But I still didn't make it easy. I thought you'd be the only person who could break it. Should have made it harder, I suppose."

"I'm sure you made it hard enough. Wouldn’t want it to appear too easy, or I might have caught on."

"Oh, I knew you would catch on no matter what I did," Grindelwald waved his reply away. "It wasn't about tricking you, I knew I couldn't do that. Just wanted to give you a chance to come to me. Still, I see your point. Which one of them was it? The girl, I bet. She has an intelligent look to her, that little one. The boy, though…" He grinned, "Where did you find him? I've never seen the like. Has nerves of steel, that one. Didn’t even flinch when I held a phaser to his forehead. _Heftig_."

 _No_ , Albus thought, with no small amount of pride. _He wouldn't give you the satisfaction._

"Anyway, how did you leave little Queenie? She was so useful, it was wonderful to see you again after all those years."

Albus gritted his teeth, "What you did to her was horrific, Grindelwald. You destroyed her sense of self."

"No, I'm quite certain her sense of self was damaged before I came along. Do you know why she was in the asylum? Killed her father and then tried to end her own life. Reminds me quite a lot of little-"

" _Don’t_ ," Albus growled.

"Ariana."

Albus shook his head. _No, no, no._

Grindelwald looked at him with pity, "Al. _Geliebter_. Don’t you think it's time you faced your past? They do say that's the only way to move on."

Albus groaned, "Please. Please don’t."

"I'm sorry, _meine liebe_ ," And he truly was. Albus could hear the sincerity in his voice. "But I didn’t leave the knife out that day."

He stopped moving, he froze.

_I didn’t leave the knife out that day._

From far away, he heard Grindelwald continue speaking, "I did leave knives out for her, on other occasions. I wanted to free you, Al, from that ridiculous burden you had to bare. You are so extraordinarily, you deserved better then to be hold up in that place. But that time, the last time. It wasn’t me."

 _No_ , Albus mind shrieked. _No, no, no_.

"I woke up in the morning, and I went downstairs. That's when I found her. Dead."

Albus gasped, hot tears running down his eyes. His mind was a blank, with only one word screaming again and again, reverberating against his skull.

 _No no no no no no no no no_ _no_ ….

He felt a finger wipe away his tears, but he could no longer see. His eyes were full of her, her smile, her long hair that she refused to cut, her chubby baby fingers, and his ears were filled with her little voice as she read out loud from her books, her laughter as he tickled her. He could _feel_ the steady breathing of Ariana the baby against his chest, her fingers wrapping around his wrist to comfort him after he was chased around the playground by older kids, who did not take kindly to his insistence that they got the answer to their homework wrong.

He was so full of Ariana he barely heard Grindelwald say that he'd 'be back when you've composed yourself', barely registered the sounds of phasers being shot, barely felt the grip on his shoulder.

 _Captain_ , he heard from far, far away. It was hard to focous on the word above Ariana's gleeful cheer as their father sprayed water on her in the backyard.

 _Captain, it's us_.

He didn’t want to hear, he didn’t want to feel. He wanted to be with Ariana. He wanted to go mad, to retreat to the safety of his memories, to the time before, the time when they were happy and complete-

_Please, Captain._

Was that desperation? Desperation. He wondered how despaired Ariana had felt, when once more she had encountered the evidence of her brother's lack of caring. He hoped she knew it was him. He did not want Aberforth to be tainted in her mind. He didn’t deserve it-

_Captain, please, it’s me. Harry. Please._

Harry? Albus knew that name. It belonged to a man he knew, a boy with bright eyes and a mischievous smile. A boy who looked at the world as clearly as Aberforth had.

"Captain!"

This time the call was closer, and Albus felt the sounds of Ariana fading away. He couldn't see, but he could hear clearly as Harry gasped, "Captain, we have to go! You have to get up, please! I need you to get up!"

 _You don’t_ , Albus wanted to tell the terrified boy. _You don’t need me, I can't help. I don’t help, I destroy._

"Captain, I don’t care about anything you did, it doesn’t matter anymore. You're my Captain and I love you and…. And I need you. So please, please come with us."

Albus shivered. Forgiveness. He did not deserve it, would never ask for it. Why was this child offering it freely?

He opened his eyes and took a deep breath, "I'm sorry, Ensign, I'm here."


	8. A Fear That Lived Inside Me

This was quickly turning into the worst day of her career.

To begin with, Grindelwald had returned to her life. She had thought, truly, that she was free of that horrendous man. But how could she be, when her Captain wasn't?

But then two Ensigns were taken, and then- the final touch- her Captain had allowed himself to be captured. Minerva wondered sullenly if Albus had developed some kind of martyr complex.

Or maybe he just wanted to see Grindelwald again.

Minerva gritted her teeth together as she looked at the screen. The pirate ship Nurmengard was looming in front of her. It was a small ship, built for speed and evasive abilities, not for battle. A strong phaser beam would destroy it.

Not that they could do that, with the idiotic Captain and those idiotic Ensigns on the ship. But it still made Minerva feel slightly better, knowing she could blow Grindelwald out of existence if she so wished.

It was a comforting thought.

"Commander McGonagall," Arthur Weasley, the Chief Engineering Officer, came up to her. Lieutenant Commander Weasley was an odd man, who treated technology with the kind of excited enthusiasm usually seen only on children. But he was without a doubt an exceptionally talented engineer who understood the Hogwarts like a mother understood her baby.

"Lieutenant," Minerva acknowledged.

"They appear to have a shield around them, we can't beam anyone into the ship," Weasley told her. "The phasers are already in place, and we're ready to warp as soon as need be."

"Good, thank you," Minerva said and turned to the communications officer. "Lieutenant, hail the pirate ship, if you please."

The young woman hurried to obey. The hail was picked up almost immediately, and Grindelwald grinned at Minerva, seated on a wooden chair before a white wall.

"Minerva," He purred. "What can I do for you today?"

"Well, if you would return my captain-"

"He's not yours," Grindelwald snapped, his grin disappearing.

Minerva felt a shiver go down her spine. He had not changed at all. She remembered, from their time together in the Academy, how Grindelwald had looked at Albus, the possessiveness, the insane _love_.

"He's not yours, either," She said quietly. "He doesn't belong to anyone but himself."

"What a novel way to look at it," Grindelwald looked amused, but Minerva could see beyond that, to the fury underneath. "I don’t prescribe to that ideology. 'War is peace, freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength'. George Orwell."

"Yes, I know who wrote that," Minerva snapped. "And I think you're taking that out of context."

Leave it to Grindelwald to turn this into a philosophical discussion. One thing he wasn’t was predictable.

"Grindelwald, you are holding a senior officer of Starfleet, and I can assure you that the entire fleet will be on your back before long. You can't get away with this. You _must_ know that."

Grindelwald shrugged, "The worst thing you can do is kill me."

"Actually, no," Minerva replied. "The worst thing we can do is kill Albus."

Grindelwald's face darkened again, fake amusement disappearing. He was doing it on purpose, showing her all his emotions. He could just as easily have put on a mask she could never penetrate. Minerva realized that he didn’t care. He wanted her to see his true self. He had no reason to hide now. He had what he wanted.

"Don’t try that threat on me, little girl," Grindelwald snarled. Minerva did not think there was much point in reminding him she was only four years younger then him. "I know you won't hurt him. You've been trying to take Al from me for years now, haven't you, you little _slut_?"

Then he had heard it when she had spoken through Queenie, telling him to stay away from Albus. Well, it wasn't as though he were a fan of hers before.

"I don’t need to take Albus from you, since he is not yours," Minerva replied.

"We're going in circles," Grindelwald sighed heavily, sounding quite long suffering, as though he were exhausted from speaking to lesser creatures.

"Quite," Minerva agreed. "What do you-"

"I've enjoyed talking to you, quite a bit. But I didn't leave Al in the best of states and I really think I should return to him. Good speaking to you, _Frau_ McGonagall."

"Wait-" But it was too late, he was gone.

 _Well_ , Minerva thought bitterly. _At least we know that Albus is alive_.

Now all she had to worry about was getting him and the ensigns back.

~

They shot their way through the corridors. It had taken exactly two minutes after Harry and Hermione had gotten the captain out for the alarm to be raised. Guards had come at them from all sides, and Captain Dumbledore had snapped at them, "Mind your flanks!" It had jump started the trained soldier in Harry's mind, and from that moment on he did not think. He just attacked and defended.

The Captain was a beacon Harry followed, not bothering to wonder where he was taking them. In the clear, simple place his mind had become, the Captain was his leader and guide. He trusted him, utterly and completely. He trusted him as fully now as he had before he heard about Ariana. Dumbledore was his Captain, it was a simple as that.

Corridor after corridor, room after room passed in a daze of battle. At the end of it, Harry felt a hand on his shoulder, forcing him out of his haze. He turned to see Hermione smiling gently at him.

"Where are we?" Harry asked, still somewhat dazed.

"The control room," Harry turned to see the Captain locking a door. Harry looked around and saw that they were, in fact, in the ship's main control room. The machines were buzzing all around him, computers beeping and humming. "You did marvelously, Potter."

Captain Dumbledore turned to them and added, "Now it's Granger's turn."

Hermione jumped and then nodded, "Right." She rushed over to one of the computers and settled down next to it. Taking a deep breath, she leaned over the computer and began working.

"Potter," Dumbledore said softly, coming up next to Harry.

"Captain," Harry replied, keeping his gaze on Hermione. She was so focused, so completely focused on what she was doing that Harry doubted she would be able to hear anything going on around her.

"I need to apologize to you," The Captain said, just as softly.

"No, you don’t," Harry said, feeling immensely uncomfortable. "Please don’t."

Dumbledore frowned slightly, "It makes you uncomfortable, doesn't it? Having a superior officer apologize to you."

"Well, I'm more used to the other way around," Harry mumbled.

"Yes, you do find yourself making quite a bit of apologizes, don’t you?" Dumbledore smiled. Harry wondered if the Captain knew how transparent his smile truly was for Harry. Harry could see the pain underneath as clearly as he could see the smile. "But being your Captain does not mean I am no longer a man, and I can make mistakes worthy of apologizes. Today I made a very severe one."

Sometimes Harry really didn’t understand his Captain. _He_ had been the one to break Starfleet rules, and the Captain was apologizing to _him_?

The sound of a phaser being fired jolted them both from their thoughts, and Harry saw in horror that a dent had appeared on the door.

"Two more and they're in," Dumbledore mumbled. He grabbed Harry and pushed him towards Hermione, forcing the three of them onto the ground, behind the large machines, where Hermione could keep working.

The Captain held both his phasers in his two hands and closed his eyes. Harry did the same, mentally preparing for the upcoming fight.

There was another phaser shot. One more to go.

 _It's simple_ , he told himself. _You need to protect Hermione_.

Another shot, and Harry opened his eyes and rose.

He shot his two phasers together, and immediately ducked back behind the computers as phaser beams hit where his head had been a moment earlier. He took a deep breath and looked at the Captain, who had done the exact same thing.

The Captain motioned to Harry that he'd go first, and Harry nodded. Captain Dumbledore rose into the air, shot, and came down. As his body began returning to the ground, Harry's rose, and he jumped into the air, and shot out. As he landed on the ground a phaser beam shot through the computers, an inch from his belly.

"T-to many," He gasped to the Captain. "We can't hold them off for long."

Another beam just missed the Captain's thigh.

"Hermione, I know you're under some pressure as is, but you might want to hurry up."

"Fuck off, Harry!" Was the response.

 _Fair enough_ , Harry thought dryly, going on his belly and peering through the hole made by the phaser beam. He could see a few feet and knees, and that was all he needed. He put his phaser against the hole and shot. A man groaned and fell to the ground, holding his leg. Harry shot him in the chest.

Suddenly, the phaser beams were cut off. Just like that, no one shot back at them. harry frowned, and kept on his side of the shooting, until he felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked up to see Captain Dumbledore shaking his head, eyes hard.

Harry let his arm grow limp against his chest, the phaser a warm weight on him.

"That's enough, Al."

Harry shivered at the sound. Grindelwald's unmistakable voice boomed through the room, hard and unyielding. He turned to look at his Captain, who appeared to be grinding his teeth.

"A magnificent display, you've impressed me. You can come out now," There was a tenseness in the pirate's voice that made Harry quite concerned.

Harry turned to look at his Captain, who to his immense relief was looking incredibly exasperated. Not the look you'd expect from someone who was about to get up and surrender himself. The Captain looked back at Harry and gave him a look Harry knew incredibly well. It meant, _be ready. We're about to act_.

" _Schatz_? If you come out now, no harm will come to the children. If you don’t-"

"Grindelwald," The Captain snapped. "Stop threatening my crew."

In the dead silence that followed, the Captain stood up and shot.

Harry looked into the hole and saw Grindelwald falling down to the floor, stunned. His eyes closed, and his head lay on his outstretched arm. Harry blinked, and it seemed that he was not the only one who was shocked. The other pirates appeared to be just as stunned as he was, as they did not resume their shooting. Harry shook his head to clear it and began shooting again. The Captain followed suit.

The pirates quickly joined in, and the shootout became two sided again.

"I'm in!" Hermione screamed above the sound of phasers. "I disabled their barrier!"

"Hail the Hogwarts!" The Captain yelled to her.

"Done!"

"Who's there?"  That was Commander McGonagall's voice and Harry laughed, he was so relieved.

"Minny, beam us some help!" The Captain screamed. "To the hallway behind us!"

"Yes, Captain," Commander McGonagall sighed. "They've been waiting."

A few moments later there was the sound of a beam and then there were new fighters in the battle. Commander McGonagall appeared to have sent an enormous amount of security officers to help them. At least fifteen, it seemed a bit of overkill to Harry. But he couldn't argue with the results. It was over in two minutes.

"Captain," One of the security officers came up to them and Harry stood up from the ground, sighing deeply.

The Captain walked over to the limp body of Grindelwald. Harry watched him with concern, and Captain Dumbledore sighed deeply, looking down at the body. He leaned down and placed his palm on the other man's back. He turned to his officers and said, "Take them to the hold. Be careful, he's dangerous. Cuff him."

One of the officers frowned, "He's stunned-"

"Cuff him," Dumbledore repeated sharply. The officer hesitated, then nodded and moved to obey. Captain Dumbledore stood up and moved back towards Harry and Hermione. He smiled at Hermione and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You did remarkably well for your first mission."

And that did it. Harry burst into hysterical laughter, accidently hitting the limp body of the French woman in the way. He gave it a kick for good measure.


	9. I Don't Own You, That Much Is Clear

Gellert woke up with a start. He could feel _his_ eyes on him, searching him. He opened his eyes and quickly took in his surroundings. He was in the cell where Queenie Goldstein had been kept during her short stay at the Hogwarts. It had been stripped bare. There was something hard against both his wrists, cuffs. He was cuffed to the wall. When he touched the metal with his fingers, he got an unexpected mild electric shock.

"I wouldn’t bother," His Al's voice washed over him. He looked up and smiled. Albus was sitting on the chair in front of him, leaning forward with his hands clasped together. He was watching him steadily, eyes never leaving his face. "Every time you touch the shackles, you'll get a more powerful shock."

Gellert grinned, "Didn't we come up with a similar idea at the Academy?"

"Yes," Al said dryly. "This is more advanced."

"Well, we were younger then," Gellert shrugged.

"We were," Albus agreed. "I just want you to understand you have no chance of escaping."

"And why would I ever want to escape, _geliebter_? You're right here with me," Gellert said softly.

Albus simply raised an eyebrow, "I won't be here for long."

Gellert frowned at him.

"I've come to see you," Albus said gently, as though he were talking to a child. "For the last time. We're going to drop you off on the nearest Federation planet, and I'll leave, and you will never see me again after that."

"What?" Gellert tried to move forward, towards _his_ beloved, towards _his_ Al, but the chains on his wrists pulled him back. Enraged, Gellert grabbed his chains, and another jolt of electricity, slightly stronger, pulsed through him. He growled and looked back up at Albus, who was standing up.

 _No_ , Gellert thought in horror. _He can't, he can't leave_.

"Al, Al," Gellert groaned. "Please don’t leave me. Please, I need you."

Albus looked at him with so much love Gellert felt his heart jump, "I have to."

"But you love me," He said, confused. "You'll never love anyone else."

"I know," Albus said simply. He was so _beautiful_ , and so far, so very far. "I love a monster. That's my punishment. To spent my entire life in love with a monster."

"You don't have to suffer, Al," Gellert insisted, feeling panic grow inside him. "I can make everything all right, I can take care of you."

"Of course I have to suffer," Al shook his head. "You made sure I have to suffer, remember? You told me I killed my sister."

Gellert stared, shocked.

"I'm sorry, Gellert. Goodbye."

Gellert. Albus was finally calling him Gellert. But he was walking away, he was walking away from him.

"No, Al, _Al_ ," Gellert groaned, tugging on the chain, ignoring the electric shocks that ran through him. "Please, _please_ , Al, come back."

But Albus didn't even look back as he disappeared.

He raged and raged, until the electrocutions became strong enough to knock him out. And even then, he kept on twitching from his dreams.

~

Harry found his Captain sitting in the rec room by himself, staring at a 3-D chess board but not touching it. Harry hesitated for a moment before taking a deep breath and sitting in front of the Captain. The Captain smiled softly at Harry.

"I'd offer to play you, Captain, but I don’t think it would be a fair fight," Harry said, trying to sound cheerful.

Dumbledore smiled again, "I could teach you. You're intelligent enough to be quite a capable player."

"You went to see him, didn’t you?" Harry asked. Then he frowned. He had not planned to ask the question out loud.

But the Captain didn’t seem surprised by the question, and he nodded and said quietly, "Yes. I needed to say goodbye."

Harry sighed to himself, "I suppose that makes sense. But- you won't see him again, right?"

Dumbledore rubbed his face, and looked at Harry. There was a deep sadness in his eyes that struck Harry's very soul, "No."

There was a moment of silence. Harry had never seen his Captain so hurt. He wondered how many times the Captain had felt this way, this broken, and had hidden it deep inside him, where no one could see. Not even Harry. Harry had once thought that he understood his Captain. He realized now that he had never understood him, not really. He wondered if he could, now.

"You know, um," Harry cleared his throat, looking down at the table. "Um, it wasn't all your fault. Your parents screwed up as well. Your father shouldn’t have killed those boys, and your mother shouldn't have hid Ariana away. It made everything worse."

The Captain reached out and tapped Harry's fingers, and Harry found unreasonably comforted.

"I thought I should let you know, I've spoken with some mental health doctors I know and arranged for them to investigate the Elba II asylum, where Queenie is. They're going to make sure that the patients there are treated better from now on."

Harry nodded, "That's good. I'm glad…I'm glad you did that."

"Thank you, Harry," The Captain said calmly, before getting out and leaving. Harry watched him walk to the door, where he almost bumped into Hermione, who was coming in. The Captain said something to her, which made her nod and smile, and walked out.

~

"Take care of him," Dumbledore said to her. Hermione nodded and smiled, watching her Captain leave. She turned to look at Harry, and walked over to him.

"Hi," Harry said quietly.

"Hi," Hermione smiled back, and sat down on Harry's lap, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He didn't seem surprised by her action at all. Maybe he also needed to feel another human body against him. He put his hands around her waist.

"I can't believe it's over," Harry sighed. "It is, isn’t it?"

"I think so," Hermione replied, leaning her forehead against Harry's. She could feel Harry's warm breath on her face.

"Do you think he'll be all right?" Harry whispered.

She didn't need to ask who he meant.

"I think he'll operate at maximum efficiency," Hermione said, closing her eyes. "Now that he has all available information."

She felt Harry smile as she leaned down to kiss him.

THE END  


End file.
